Journey to the Unova League
by kearneykid
Summary: Join Akio, his Pokemon and his friends are they journey to become the best Pokemon trainers in the Unova region
1. Chapter 1: And So It Begins

**Chapter One: And So It Begins**

I woke to the sunlight streaming in from my open window.

"Damn" I thought "must have forgotten to close my curtains last night".

I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror across from my bed. My usually bright blue eyes which many people compared to sapphires were all bloodshot and bleary while my brown hair was sticking up all over the place. I looked terrible thanks to having very little sleep last night.

Not that anyone could blame me though, as today was the first I was getting my first Pokémon! I'd been counting down the days for the past few weeks, and last night I'd been so excited I had hardly slept a wink. I just kept thinking about which Pokémon I was going to get.

Most people have a preferred type of Pokémon, like my friend Baldwin. He really wants a Fighting type. He does wrestling at school, so he thinks he needs a similar Pokémon in strength to him. But I would be happy with any Pokémon, as long as the both of us made it to the Unova League. That's my main aim: to become a Pokémon trainer and beat the gym leaders and Elite Four of the Unova region then travel the world!

I should probably introduce myself at this point: my name is Akio, and I am 13 years old today. It used to be the case that you could get your first Pokémon as soon as you turned 10, but due to many trainers at that age setting off on a journey on their own, and not being able to cope meant that the Pokémon league changed the rules and made everyone wait until they ere 13 before they could set off on a Pokémon journey, although I bet my mother would have preferred they had made the legal age all the way up to 18.

I pulled myself out of bed, and dressed myself in my favourite pair of chinos, and a white vest and blue shirt over the top. I tried to smooth my hair down in the mirror, but my hair was having none of it so I just left it in the mess it was in. It looked quite trendy actually.

I raced downstairs to find my mother sitting at our kitchen counter with a steaming cup of cocoa and some toast sitting waiting for me.

"There's my big boy, all set to get your first Pokémon?" my mother asked me.

"I really wish you wouldn't call me your big boy. That is the reason why I don't want you to come to Professor Juniper's lab with me, as you'll just end up embarrassing me" I replied.

"Akio, I could never embarrass you! I just worry about you, that's all" my mother sniffed. She sorted her long brown hair back into the tight bun she wore it in on the top of her heard and removed her breakfast plates to the nearby sink.

"I'm sorry Mom" I said to her, and went and gave her hug. "I'm just really nervous about which Pokémon I'm going to get".

"I understand Akio. I was the same when I got my first Pokémon all those years ago" my mother replied. "Now, you better hurry along. Baldwin was here earlier looking for you, and I think he has already headed off to Professor Juniper's lab"

"WHAT?!" I yelled, and raced out of our front door, pulling my red trainers on as I hopped down our garden path.

I live in Nuvema Town, it's a pretty small town, with the only thing of any interest is Professor Juniper's laboratory. She's a Pokémon researcher and also gives all new Pokémon trainers in the area their first Pokémon and Pokedex so they can help her carry on her research throughout the Unova region.

I raced up the hill to Professor Juniper's lab and finally came to white stone building which she uses as her lab. Beside were large fields with fences and I could see a variety of young Pokémon running around. I wondered whether any of them would be mine, and rushed inside…

Crashing straight into my friend Baldwin.

"Hey Akio, watch where you are going! Just because you slept in, doesn't mean I should be the one who ends up in hospital with a broken leg!"

Baldwin was joking of course. I mentioned he did wrestling, so was huge compared to me. I was what you would describe as lean, running was more my sport at school. I was 5'8", while Baldwin towered over me at 6'2". He had thick muscular arms which resembled tree trunks and always wore a blue vest to show off his muscles to all the girls at our school. Today was no different as he was wearing his signature blue vest, as well as a pair of green shorts and a pair of flip flops. No matter what the weather was, Baldwin always wore his flip flops.

"Am I too late? Are there still any Pokémon left?" I asked, trying to catch my breath.

"Sorry mate" Baldwin said, holding a small red and white ball. "This is the last one, and I got it"

I stared at him in pure horror, before he ended up cracking a grin.

"Of course, there are still plenty left. Juniper is waiting for you up ahead".

"Seriously Baldwin, as soon as I get my Pokémon, I am going to wipe that smile off your face" I growled back.

"Well, you better hurry along to get it then so you can_ try _and put that theory to the test" he replied.

I pushed past him and darted into the room ahead of me.

"Welcome Akio, I was beginning to wonder where you were" replied a slender woman with light green hair, and wearing a long lab coat and glasses.

"Sorry Professor Juniper", I replied, "I slept in".

"No problem, so are you ready to start your Pokémon journey? She asked me.

"You bet I am" I replied.

"Well, these are the Pokémon that I have left. Feel free to choose any that you like". She gestured to three red and white balls, similar to the one Baldwin had just shown me, lying on a white table.

I walked over to them and looked at them. They all looked exactly the same, and none of them showed any sign of what Pokémon they had inside.

I decided it was up to fate to decide which starter Pokémon I got, so I closed my eyes and reached my hand out and picked up one of the pokeballs. I opened my eyes and stared at the small ball sitting in my hand.

"Well?" asked Professor Juniper, "aren't you going to see which one you got?".

I threw the pokeball into the air and shouted "Pokémon, come on out!"

The ball opened and a great white light shone from the pokeball, before taking the shape of a small blue creature with a white face and a shell on its front formed in front of me.

"Oshawott" it said and smiled up at me.

"Oh, you chose Oshawott, that's a great choice" said Professor Juniper.

"Wow, that's so cool. Oshawott is a great Pokémon" I said, which seemed to please Oshawott who beamed at me

"Osha!" it said.

Professor Juniper then handed me a red handheld device, no bigger than a mobile phone.

"This is a Pokedex. You can use it to record details of all the Pokémon you see on your journey" Professor Juniper told me. "It'll also help with my research, and help you when battling as it will give you a description of the Pokémon it scans moves. Why don't you try it out with Oshawott?"

I held the Pokedex up to Oshawott, and it scanned its image.

"OSHAWOTT, THE SEA OTTER POKEMON. THE SCALLOP ON ITS STOMACH IS NOT JUST USED FOR BATTLES, IT CAN BE USED TO OPEN HARD BERRIES AS WELL" came the metallic voice from the Pokedex.

"Sweet, that'll come on handy on our journey" I said. "OK, Oshawott, let's go catch us some more Pokémon and win the Unova league"

"Osha!" cried Oshawott and hurried off out of the room in front of me.

"All the best Akio. Take good care of Oshawott for me" smiled Professor Juniper, waving me out of the door as I chased after Oshawott.

"Whoa dude, is that an Oshawott?" exclaimed Baldwin who had been waiting for me outside the laboratory.

"It sure is" I replied. "I can't wait to see what kind of moves it can do".

"Well, why don't we find out right now?" said Baldwin. "We both have our first Pokémon, why don't we have our first battle together?"

I quickly agreed and headed outside of Juniper's lab and found a large area of grass nearby.

"OK, Oshawott, let's prepare to win our first battle" I shouted to my new Pokémon friend.

"Oshawott" came its reply, and I could have sworn it had a determined look on its face.

"You're going to need plenty of luck against my Pokémon" shouted Baldwin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball. "Pokémon, come on out!"

**Which Pokémon does Baldwin have? And who will win the first battle? All will be revealed in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: First Battles, First Pokemon

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Two: First Battles, First Pokémon**

"Pokémon, come on out" shouted Baldwin throwing his pokeball into the air. The ball opened unleashing a blinding white light, and when it cleared, standing there was a small yellow lizard with a red belly.

"Scraggy" said the mysterious Pokémon.

"You got a Scraggy?!" I cried. I couldn't believe Baldwin had managed to get a Scraggy as his first Pokémon.

"SCRAGGY, THE SHEDDING POKEMON. PROUD OF ITS STURDY SKULL, IT SUDDENLY HEADBUTTS EVERYTHING, BUT ITS WEIGHT MAKES IT UNSTABLE TOO." Said my Pokedex as I scanned the Pokémon.

"Still think you can win?" smirked Baldwin.

"You bet we can" I said, and looked at my own Pokémon, Oshawott who still had the determined look in its eye. I knew that Oshawott wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"OK, Oshawott, lets show Scraggy whose boss. Use Water Gun" I cried.

Oshawott opened its mouth and shot a stream of water straight at Scraggy.

"Quick Scraggy, dodge it" shouted Baldwin, and Scraggy quickly leapt out of the way, with Oshawott's water gun just missing it. "OK, time for us to go on the attack, let's use sand attack!"

Scraggy jumped to the ground, stuck its small hands in the ground and shovelled sand into Oshawott's face.

"Osha" cried Oshawott as it tried to get the sand out of its eyes.

"Oshawott, turn away from the sand quickly" I yelled. This wasn't a good start, if Oshawott wasn't able to see, then Scraggy could launch any attacks and Oshawott wouldn't be able to defend itself.

"OK Scraggy, now let's use Low Kick" ordered Baldwin.

Scraggy started to run, then skidded along the ground, sticking its left leg out. Sliding along the ground, it connected with Oshawott, sending my poor Pokémon flying into the air.

"Oshaaaa" cried my Pokémon as it went spinning through the air, before crashing on the ground.

"Oshawott, get up and use Tackle" I shouted.

Oshawott recovered itself, and launched itself at Scraggy head first. Oshawott's quick movement caught both Baldwin and Scraggy off guard, and Oshawott's Tackle collided with the lizard Pokémon.

"Scragg!" cried Baldwin's Pokémon who went flying through the air before landing on its back.

"OK, Oshawott, time to use Water Gun again" I cried.

Oshawott again shot a stream of water out of its mouth.

"Scraggy, run towards Oshawott then use Low Kick" shouted Baldwin with a glint in his eye.

I couldn't work out what he was doing, but Scraggy went charging towards Oshawott, and then launched its Low Kick attack, sliding right under Oshawott's Water Gun attack. Since Oshawott was busy shooting water out of its mouth, it was unable to move out of the way, so Scraggy' attacked connected with it, and once again it was sent flying.

However, this time Oshawott didn't get up.

"Oshawott is unable to battle, scraggy is the winner!" shouted a voice.

We both turned around to find Professor Juniper had been watching us battle.

"That was a great battle, and you both handled your Pokémon really well" she smiled at the both of us.

Both Baldwin and I recalled our Pokémon, and whispered congratulations to Oshawott on our first battle. We might have lost, but I was still impressed with the way it had composed itself during the battle, and I knew we were going to be a great team together.

"Well, you both better get on your way and catch all those Pokémon" said Professor Juniper, and waved to us as she walked back into her laboratory.

"OK, well where you think we should go first?" asked Baldwin turning to face me.

"Huh? You want to travel together?" I asked. While I and Baldwin were best friends, we were both competitive, and I didn't think Baldwin would want to tag along with me, and would want to go on his own journey.

"Of course I do Akio!" replied Baldwin "Don't you want to go together? Certainly means we won't get as lonely if we travel together, and we can train each other by having regular battles too!"

"That sounds like a great idea. Plus when we come across other trainers, we can help each other out by giving each other some advice" I said.

"Great. Now that that is sorted, where should we head for our first gym badge?" Baldwin asked.

"Well, Nacrene City is probably the closest city to where we are. We could go there and win the Basic Badge. I think the gym leader there specialises in Normal type Pokémon, so we should both be OK going up against that type of Pokémon" I replied.

"Sounds like a plan to me! OK, let's get on our way!" he replied.

We collected our backpacks and headed off to start our journey. We both stopped off to say good bye to our parents (my mum was so embarrassing, crying into a tissue as she waved us goodbye) and headed off on the route to Nacrene City.

"So, do you think you are going to specialist in a certain type of Pokémon? After all, with an Oshawott, you could have water Pokémon team" Baldwin asked me.

"I don't think I want to specialist. I want an all-round team with as many different types of Pokémon as I can find. What about yourself?" I replied to my friend.

He pushed his wavy brown hair out of his brown eyes, and stuck out his tongue, something he did when he was thinking hard. "Well, I really like Fighting and Steel type Pokémon, and with Scraggy being my first Pokémon, I think I am off to a good start with my team".

"I can't believe you managed to get a Scraggy as your first Pokémon. How did you manage that?" I asked, in awe of my friend, and while I was happy with my Oshawott, I was a little jealous I hadn't managed to get a Scraggy.

"I don't know how I managed to get one either! I was just lucky to get there early enough. Professor Juniper had about 10 different pokeballs when I got there, so it was just luck of the draw that I managed to get a Pokémon I wanted. You need to get up earlier in future mate" Baldwin replied cockily.

"I've never been a morning person" I replied, "and I'm happy with Oshawott. I think we will be a good team together".

The pair of us started down the route talking and laughing together, until we both saw a rustle in some grass ahead of us.

"It must be a Pokémon" cried Baldwin.

Out of the grass came a small brown Pokémon with beige fur over its face and blue markings on its back.

"LILLIPUP, THE PUPPY POKEMON. THOUGH IT IS A VERY BRAVE POKEMON, IT'S ALSO SMART ENOUGH TO CHECK IT'S FOES STRENGTH AND AVOID BATTLE" came the Pokedex's response once the scanned the small Pokémon.

"OK, Lillipup would be a great addition to my team" I said.

Baldwin shook his head, "I'll give it a miss, it's not the type of Pokémon I'm looking for".

That was fine by me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out Oshawott's pokeball. I threw the red and white ball into the air, and Oshawott appeared from the white light which omitted from the ball.

After losing to Baldwin and Scraggy, Oshawott looked even more determined than before. It was clear it was not going to take losing as an option.

"OK Oshawott, let's weaken this Lillipup so we can add him to our team" I cried to Oshawott, "let's use Water Gun".

Oshawott opened its mouth and shot water straight at Lillipup, which despite missing in the battle against Scraggy, managed to hit Lillipup and sent the Pokémon flying back into a nearby tree.

Lillipup looked dazed, and tried to stand to defend itself. It bared its teeth and bent its knees.

"It looks like it is going to use Tackle" said Baldwin, and as soon as he finished saying it, the Lillipup came charging towards Oshawott.

"Quick Oshawott, dodge it, and use another Water Gun".

Oshawott leapt out of the way and manoeuvred itself behind Lillipup, firing another stream of water straight into Lillipup, and sending it sprawling across the ground. The Pokémon looked dazed and tired, and I knew it was weak enough for me to catch it.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the empty pokeballs that Professor Juniper had given me. I threw it at Lillipup, and the ball opened, and Lillipup was transported inside. The ball closed and shook for a couple of seconds before locking shut.

"Alright! I caught Lillipup" I yelled.

"Oshawott!" said Oshawott clearly delighted with our success with a huge smile on its face.

"Well done Akio, Lillipup will be a great addition to your team" congratulated Baldwin.

"Thanks mate. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find a Pokémon for you to add to your team soon enough" I replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's get on our way to Nacrene City" came my friend's reply, and he raced off down the hill, with me in hot pursuit.

**I hope everyone** **is enjoying the story so far. I worry I don't write the battles too well so hopefully they will improve over time.**


	3. Chapter 3: Caught In Joltik's Web

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Three: Caught In Joltik's Web**

I woke to the smell of cooked bacon, and opened my bleary eyes to see my good friend Baldwin frying some bacon over the portable gas stove his father had put in his massive rucksack. His father was a big hiking fan, so had packed all the essential equipment that we were going to need for our journey to become masters of the Unova League.

I stretched and looked down at the two red and white balls that were sitting on top of my rucksack. I couldn't believe that just yesterday I had started my journey and had been given Oshawott as my first Pokémon. Not only that, but the same day I caught my first Pokémon, in the form of Lillipup. I felt like I was on my way to completing my goal of becoming a Pokémon trainer.

Baldwin only had one Pokémon, and while he kept saying that it didn't bother him, I knew it did. He was a keen wrestler at school, and was very competitive, and never liked to lose. I knew that he wouldn't want to fewer Pokémon than me for very long.

"Morning Akio, tuck into some lovely greasy bacon" smiled Baldwin, placing some of the steaming bacon on a plate with some bread rolls. "I've also got some Pokémon food ready for your two Pokémon if they want some".

"Sure, sounds great" I said, and reached over and threw both my pokeballs into the air. Both Oshawott and Lillipup appeared smiling seeming refreshed after a night's sleep. "OK guys, dig into this tasty Pokémon food" I told them and they gladly accepted.

"I reckon if we keep a good pace, it will probably take us three or four days to make to Nacrene City" Baldwin said. "Although, we may want to drag it out a bit longer to train ourselves up and catch some more Pokémon. I certainly don't think I'll be winning a Basic Badge if I turn up at the gym with just a Scraggy".

"You're right" I said through a mouthful of food. "I'm sure we'll find plenty of Pokémon to catch between here and Nacrene City, and plenty of people to battle too. Plus, at least we have each other to battle if we do run out of others to challenge"

"You're right, and you need to try and actually beat next time" smiled Baldwin.

After we and our Pokémon had stuffed ourselves with food, we packed up our camping gear and got ready to head on our way to our first gym battle.

"What happened to those last bread rolls I left here? Do you eat them all?" Baldwin asked me, looking around the campsite like he had lost something valuable.

"I may be a 13 year old kid, but I couldn't eat another thing. I'd explode!" I replied. "It doesn't matter, let's just head on our way, and we can always buy more food".

But Baldwin wouldn't let it go and began searching around the area where we had been camping.

"They must be around here somewhere" he muttered to himself. He pulled back the branches of a bush and came face to face with a small blue and black striped Pokémon. It had a large snout and was holding two of our bread rolls on its large claws.

"Drilbur?" said the Pokémon.

"Whoa, that's a Drilbur" I exclaimed.

"And it's eating our food!" raged Baldwin.

The Drilbur sensed Baldwin's anger as it dropped the rolls and dove into the ground and disappeared.

"Oh no you don't Drilbur" exclaimed Baldwin, "You are exactly the type of Pokémon I've been waiting for".

With that, Baldwin picked up his pokeballs and rucksack and headed off after Drilbur. I hurriedly recalled both Oshawott and Lillipup and took off in hot pursuit.

"Baldwin, wait up, how are you going to be able to find Drilbur when it went underground?" I yelled.

"Don't worry Akio, where there's a will there's a way" cried Baldwin back as he raced ahead of me.

Luckily I had been one of the best runners at our school, and with Baldwin being much heavier than me, it didn't take me long to catch up. I soon found Baldwin panting breathlessly outside of a cave in a hillside.

"Drilbur…went….in there" panted Baldwin.

"Well, what are we waiting for then? I thought you wanted to catch it, and after all, I have more Pokémon than you" I joked.

That seemed to spur Baldwin into action and we both started to head into the cave…

"WAIT! What do you think you are doing?!" came a voice from behind us.

We turned around to find a small guy, around the same age as us. He had jet black hair, brown eyes and wore large red glasses. He was wearing pale green shirt with long sleeves, with a pen and notebook in the shirt's pocket. He was also wearing white linen trousers and a pair of brown shoes. He was carrying a notepad as well as a green rucksack. Trust me, it wasn't a great look.

"As if it is any of your business, we are just going inside here to catch myself a Drilbur" replied Baldwin.

"It is my business. My name is Toshitiro, but everyone calls me Toshi and I'm a Pokémon researcher. And inside that cave is a nest of Joltik's that I have been studying for some time now. I don't think it would be a good idea to just wander into their lair. They can be quite feisty critters and I don't think they would take too kindly to you doing that" the small guy replied, shifting his glasses up his nose.

Baldwin sniffed and turned and headed into the cave. Toshi began to look nervous.

"Don't worry about him" I replied, "he's never listens to anyone but his stomach".

A cry suddenly rang out from inside the cave and myself and Toshi quickly rushed inside. I was worried Baldwin had been attacked by one of these Joltik Pokémon Toshi had mentioned.

The cave was pitch black and just as I began to worry about what I had done with my flashlight, a bright beam appeared beside me. I turned to see Toshi had donned a head torch, which was lighting our path ahead.

I think he could sense me looking at him oddly as he turned and said "You made it find it odd that I own a head torch, but trust me, it's useful to make sure you have both hands free when you are wandering inside a cave in case you come across something that means to do you harm".

I certainly couldn't argue with his logic, so followed him as we ventured deeper into the cave. With the help of Toshi's torch, we could tell it was a long tunnel burrowed into the rock. The walls were slimy with mildew, and there were threads of some white material hanging down from the ceiling.

"That's the webbing from a Joltik" answered Toshi.

"How long have you been studying these Pokémon?" I asked him.

"Oh, for quite some time. I love studying any kind of weird Pokémon, and bug types in particular. Joltik's have particularly fascinated as they are both Bug and Electric types, two types that don't normally mix in the Pokémon world", he answered me.

We could spot a large black figure up ahead. Toshi motioned to me that we should approach carefully, and as crept up, I realised it was Baldwin. He was bent over nearing some of the Joltik webbing and was trying to unfasten something.

"Hold still, I can't help you if you won't hold still" he was saying.

Toshi and I approached him and saw that the Drilbur we had been chasing had got itself tangled in the Joltik's webbing. It had obviously tried to break free but had ended up getting itself more and more tangled.

"I think I might have scissors in my bag" said Toshi and he bent over to look into his bag. However, as he did this, the torchlight went out and everything went dark. Suddenly I could feel that something was moving in the shadows and could feel the hairs rising on my arms.

"Erm Toshi, we could really do with that light back on anytime now" I stammered.

"Oh right, sorry" he replied and raised his head, and the beam of the torch shined directly into the eyes of a giant yellow spider.

Now, both Toshi and myself jumped, but while I jumped out of fear, Toshi seemed to jump out of excitement.

"I can't believe, finally, a real Joltik!" He reached into his bag and pulled out a pokeball. "Venipede, come on out, help me catch Joltik!"

He threw the pokeball into the air, it opened and a Pokémon materialised out of the white light looking like a long red bug. It had red and black antennae on the top of its head, as well two further antennae at the end of its body too.

I reached into my Pokedex and scanned both of the Pokémon.

"VENIPEDE, THE CENTIPEDE POKEMON. USING THE FEELERS ON ITS HEAD AND TAIL, IT PICKS UP VIBRATIONS IN THE AIR TO DETERMINE ITS PREY'S LOCATION"

"JOLTIK, THE ATTACHING POKEMON. SINCE IT CAN'T GENERATE IT'S OWN ELECTRICITY, IT STICKS ONTO LARGE BODIED POKEMON AND ABSORBS STATIC ELECTRCITY" came my Pokedex's reply to both Pokémon.

"OK, Venipede, using Poison Sting" shouted Toshi. Venipede opened its mouth and fired lots of pin missiles straight at Joltik. The Joltik tried to move out of the way but it wasn't quite fast enough and a number of the poisonous missiles connected with it.

The front of Joltik's two front legs glowed as it jumped towards Venipede.

"It looks like it's using Fury Cutter" came Baldwin's reply as the Joltik's attack connected with Venipede. Venipede hardly seemed affected by it though.

"Since Venipede is a bug type, bug type moves won't have that much of an effect on it" replied Toshi, "OK Venipede, let's use Rollout!"

Venipede rolled into a ball and began charging towards Joltik, the ball collided with Joltik sending it flying and as Joltik came falling back down to the ground, the rolling Venipede hit it again, and again. The Joltik was sent flying and crashed into the side of the cave. It was clearly out for the count.

Toshi pulled a pokeball and threw it at Joltik. The ball opened and Joltik's energy was transported inside. The ball shook a couple of times before the unmistakeable ping sounded which meant Toshi had caught Joltik.

Baldwin and I both congratulated Toshi on an excellent battle. "That was really impressive" I said, "I must admit, I didn't think you were going to be that strong of a trainer".

"While I don't do a lot of battling, I have to make sure I'm able to handle myself" came Toshi's reply.

Toshi then finally got the scissors out of his bag and Baldwin finally managed to cut Drilbur free. Drilbur seemed so relieved to be free from the netting that it gave Baldwin a big hug.

"Drilbur!" it cried, clearly happy that it had been freed from the webbing.

"No worries Drilbur" replied Baldwin, "now how about we have a battle so you let me catch you?"

The Drilbur seemed happy with Baldwin's request and we all headed back out into the light. Baldwin reached into his bag and brought out a pokeball.

"OK, Scraggy, come on out" Baldwin threw the pokeball and there stood his Scraggy.

"Scrag" came the Pokémon's response, and it was clearly itching for a battle.

The Drilbur looked just as determined and clasped its two front claws together and began to spin rapidly.

"Looks like it is going to use Rapid Spin" shouted Toshi, as the mole Pokémon began spinning towards Scraggy.

"Scraggy, jump out of the way and then use Low Kick" ordered Baldwin. Scraggy leapt to the side and was missed by Drilbur's attack. Scraggy then slid along the ground and kicked Drilbur spinning into the air.

"OK Scraggy, now use Faint Attack" shouted Baldwin.

I was surprised, I didn't realise Scraggy knew Faint Attack as he didn't use it when I previously battled him with my Oshawott. Scraggy seemed to disappear into thin air, causing confusion for Drilbur as it looked around trying to spot Scraggy. Suddenly, Scraggy appeared right in front of Drilbur, hitting Drilbur and sending it flying through the air.

"A very impressive attack" remarked Toshi.

Drilbur clearly wasn't getting up from that move, so Baldwin threw a pokeball. The ball opened and Drilbur was soon trapped inside.

"I caught Drilbur!" shouted Baldwin with glee.

"Well guys, thanks for all your help with the Joltik back there" said Toshi, "now I need to be on my way to Nacrene City".

"We're going to Nacrene City too" I replied, "Why don't you tag along with us? I know I'd certainly like to pick your brains as you seem to have a lot of knowledge on Pokémon types". Baldwin nodded in agreement.

"If you guys are sure, then I would love to travel with you" said Toshi with a smile.

**And so Toshi joined the team. Hope you guys like the story so far, and if you have any ideas or hints then feel free to drop me a message, it would be most appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4: Enter Team Plasma

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Four: Enter Team Plasma**

"Oshawott, use Water Gun!" I commanded to my water Pokémon. He opened his mouth and fired a stream of water at my opponent's Patrat.

"Patrat!" cried the opponent as it went soaring through the air and collapsed into a heap.

"Patrat is unable to battle. Oshawott is the winner!" declared Toshi.

"That was a great battle" said the trainer, Lily who I had asked to battle, "Your Oshawott was really strong".

"Thanks, your Patrat was a great opponent" I replied.

Lily was soon on her way, and I was left celebrating my winning. Every time you challenge a trainer, whoever loses has to pay some funds to the winning trainer. It is how a trainer makes money in order to live, but it can be risky, especially if you lose. Luckily both Baldwin and I have been on winning streaks lately, and we are collecting a nice little fund. Thanks to our new friend Toshi and his researching work, the three of us were starting to build up a nice pot of money.

The three of us headed on our way to Nacrene City. We had been walking through woodland when we had come across a number of trainers, mostly new trainers training up some weak Bug or Normal types. Never ones to pass the opportunity of raising up our Pokémon, and earning some money, Baldwin and I had happily accepted any battles that had come our way. However, night was beginning to fall and we needed to find somewhere to sleep.

"According to the map on my Pokedex, there should be a Pokémon centre nearby, I think we should try to get there, I could really do with sleeping on a proper bed for one night" complained Baldwin.

I had to agree, my back was killing me from sleeping on hard ground, so the thought of lying on a soft bed for the night was music to my ears.

The three of us agreed that we would carry on for a bit further so we could make it to the Pokémon centre.

As we walked along the woodland path, we spotted something ahead of us. As we approached closer, we saw that it was a blue painted wooden trailer that you see at carnivals. On the side of it was the painted portrait of a tall, slim man with jet black hair, wearing a top hat and holding a bunch of flowers in a white gloved hand.

"Looks like there is some sort of circus up ahead" remarked Toshi.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Baldwin, "I love the circus!" He raced off to the caravan with Toshi and me in hot pursuit. As we approached, we could hear loud noises coming from inside.

"It sounds like a Pokezoo in there" said Toshi, just as the door of the caravan burst open and a small orange pig came jumping out and began to run towards us.

"TEPIG!" it cried as it raced towards before slamming right into legs, and slumping down a little dazed.

From the doorway of the caravan appeared a man who looked exactly the same as the man in the picture on its side. He was wearing a long black cloak that hung over his shoulders, grey trousers and a grey waistcoat. His hair looked even blacker in person, and whoever had painted the portrait had failed to capture the intense look of his eyes, which had a purple tinge to them.

"Tepig, come back!" shouted the magician and he stepped down from the caravan. Following him came a woman, who was a similar height to him, thanks to the large red heels she was wearing. She had flame red hair that was straight, down to her shoulders. She had brown eyes that seemed to look right through and gave the three of us a withering look.

"Look Seth, those kids over there have got our little Tepig" the woman shouted.

"Well spotted Luna" replied the black haired magician and he began to walk towards us.

"We aren't kids!" shouted Baldwin, "we're Pokémon trainers!"

At that remark, the magician turned to look at the woman, and I could have sworn that I saw them share a small grin between themselves. But in a flash, it was gone.

"Of course you are" said the magician, turning to face us again "and may I introduce myself. I am Seth the Sorcerer, and this is Luna, my beautiful assistant". Luna nodded her head to say hello behind us.

"We are a pair of travellers who like to show off magic tricks to anyone we can find. Would you three like to see a trick?" Seth asked us.

"Sure, I used to love seeing magic tricks when my mother used to take me to the circus" replied Baldwin.

Toshi didn't look convinced. "As a man of science, I don't believe in magic"

"Well, allow us to prove you wrong sir" replied Seth with a smile.

The three of us agreed to be shown a trick and Seth beckoned to us to follow him to the caravan. I went to pick up Tepig to bring him back with us, but the poor thing was shaking and tried to wriggle free from my grasp.

"I don't think your Tepig is very keen to go back into your caravan" I said as the pig Pokémon struggled and cried in my arms.

"Oh, he's fairly new to our travelling group, I think he is just taking his time to get used to the feel of being on the road" Seth replied over his shoulder as he lead us up the steps into the caravan.

As we entered, I realised how small the caravan looked. There were no windows so no light could get in, and the only light coming from inside was a small oil lamp that was hung from the ceiling at the centre of the caravan. Luna had obviously lit a number of incense burners as smoke was filling the room. The smell was really sweet and it tickled my nose. Toshi was already sneezing uncontrollably.

"Come, take a seat on these three cushions" Luna beckoned and led us over to three beanbag-type cushions that were lay out on the left side of the caravan. The rest of the caravan had a variety of magic tricks lying around, as well as some silk curtains (which I presumed were Luna's tastes). There was a door at the far end which I guessed lead to the front of the caravan.

Baldwin, Toshi and I sat down on the three cushions, and I was still holding Tepig in my arms.

"OK, for this trick, I require each of you to select a Pokémon from your collection and summon them for me" said Seth. He had put a top hat on his hear and was adjusting his cloak, so that he had it pulled around him.

The three of us looked at each other, and Baldwin pulled out one of his pokeballs and threw it into the air. The ball opened, and from the shining white light, his Drilbur soon formed in front of us.

Toshi shrugged and also pulled out one of his pokeballs and threw it into the air. His Venipede soon materialised from the open pokeball. I also reached for one of my pokeballs and threw it to summon my Oshawott.

Our three Pokémon stood in front of us, slightly dazed by the situation they found themselves in.

"Don't worry guys" Baldwin reassured them, "this dude is going to show us a magic trick!" He stifled a yawn. "Man, I'm feeling tired all of a sudden".

"I concur" yawned Toshi, "we really should have pressed onto that Pokecentre".

I began to yawn too, "I didn't even feel that tired, so I'm not sure why I'm suddenly feeling exhausted".

"Oh, don't worry" said Seth, who I realised was speaking from behind his cape. "It's just the effect of the sleeping incense beginning to take effect".

"Huh?" I exclaimed, as my eyes began to close, and I could myself drifting off….

I soon became aware of something warm touching my face. I tried to knock it away, but it kept doing it. I shot open my eyes and found the Tepig I had been holding was standing right in front of me.

"Tepig!" it cried.

I pulled myself up and rubbed my eyes. Had I really fallen asleep? I had missed the magic trick, and then Seth's remark came flooding back. I looked around and realised we weren't in the caravan anymore. In fact, the three of us were all lying on the grass.

"Baldwin! ToshI! Wake up!" I shouted.

Baldwin mumbled and slowly began to stir, but Toshi shot straight up. "Those two somehow made us fall asleep. Where are our Pokémon?"

I looked around but couldn't spot Oshawott anywhere. I felt around and could still feel the pokeball for Lillipup attached to my belt but that was it.

"They must have taken our Pokémon!" I cried.

Baldwin soon leapt up. "They've taken Drilbur!" He began to run around in a circle shouting "Drilbur" over and over.

"Why would they take our Pokémon but leave their Tepig behind?" Toshi asked looking at the small pig Pokémon still standing in front of me.

"I don't know" I replied, "but we need to find them and get our Pokémon back!"

At that, Tepig soon became animated and began to jump up and down.

"I think it's trying to get our attention" said Toshi.

"Do you know where that magician has taken our Pokémon too?" I asked.

The Tepig nodded and began to race off down the grassy hill. The three of us jumped up and followed.

Tepig could sure run fast, but luckily my days of being a runner at school soon paid off, as I managed to keep pace with it. Toshi and Baldwin were soon left far behind. As we continued to run along, I soon spotted the blue caravan trundling along ahead of us.

"I can see it" I shouted back to Toshi and Baldwin. They were too far behind to hear me, but I ploughed on, I had to get my Oshawott back. Tepig and I got closer, and I could hear Oshawott crying from inside the caravan.

"Don't worry buddy" I shouted, "I'll get you out of there".

I didn't know how I was going to do that though, the caravan was still ahead of me, and there was no way I was going to be able to get inside unless it came to a stop. Then I looked down at Tepig running beside me and had an idea.

"OK Tepig, I need you to use Tackle on one of the rear wheels, to make the caravan stop so I can get our Pokémon out of there. OK?" I said to the Pokémon.

Tepig looked at me, and nodded in agreement and charged ahead, and crashed straight into the left rear wheel. It wobbled off its axis, and then fell off. This caused the caravan to lurch to the left side, and it came to a halt as it fell over.

However, Seth and Luna appeared from the front of the caravan, wondering what was going on, and I could see on their faces mixture of anger and shock at seeing me and Tepig there.

"What do you think you are doing?" screeched Luna.

"I could ask you guys the same thing for stealing our Pokémon!" I shouted.

"I'm not having some brat ruining our scheme" said Luna and she threw out a pokeball. It opened and a small purple cat stood on top of the caravan.

I held up my Pokedex and scanned the Pokémon. "PURRLOIN, THE DEVIOUS POKEMON. THEY TRICK PEOPLE AND STEAL THEIR VALUABLES JUST TO SEE THE LOOK ON THEIR FACES".

"Purrloin, use Scratch!" shouted Luna, and the purple cat Pokémon leapt towards Tepig with its claws outstretched.

Thinking on my feet I shouted "Tepig, dodge it, then use Ember". Tepig listened to my command leapt out of the way, and then shouting some flaming embers right at Purrloin, which recoiled in pain.

"Oh no you don't" exclaimed Seth, as he also threw a pokeball. It opened and a black floating Pokémon appeared. It had a giant red ring around its eyes, and was holding a yellow coloured face mask in a black tail-like limb.

"YAMASK, THE SPIRIT POKEMON. IT ARISES FROM THE SPIRITS OF PEOPLE INTERRED IN GRAVES AND EACH ONE RETAINS MEMORIES OF ITS FORMER LIFE" came my Pokedex's response to me scanning it.

This was starting to get tricky as I was now facing off against two Pokémon.

"Yamask, use Night Shade" commanded Seth, and Yamask began to glow purple and formed a purple ball of energy in front of it. It then launched the ball of energy right at me!

"Dwebble, use Protect to stop that attack" came a voice behind me, and a small red crab type Pokémon with a giant rock on its back appeared in front of me and began to glow. It deflected the Night Shade attack away from me, just in the nick of time!

I looked round and saw Baldwin and Toshi had caught up with me. Toshi was holding a pokeball, so I guessed the Dwebble had come from him.

"I didn't realise you had a Dwebble" I said, realising that I hadn't taken a breath since Yamask had launched its attack.

"You never asked" replied Toshi, "now are we going to take these two down or what?"

I nodded and turned to face the two Pokémon in front of us.

"Who are you guys?" shouted Toshi.

Seth and Luna stood up. "We are members of an elite group who plan to capture all Pokémon and use their energy to cleanse the world of all evil and start anew."

"Because that sounds normal" remarked Baldwin.

"We are Team Plasma!" the pair exclaimed.

"I don't care who you guys are, we are taking back our Pokémon!" I shouted, "Tepig, use another Ember on Purrloin."

"Dwebble, use Fain Attack" cried Toshi.

Tepig fired another flurry of flaming embers towards Purrloin, which cause the Pokémon to scurry back to Luna. Meanwhile, Dwebble seemed to disappear, before re-appearing right in front of Yamask, and colliding with it, sending it flying back to Seth and Luna.

There was a sudden crash and Oshawott, Drilbur and Venipede appeared from the back of the caravan.

"You guys managed to break out! OK Oshawott, use Water Gun and send these two criminals on their way" I shouted.

Oshawott looked happy to help and turned and fired a stream of water straight at Seth, Luna and their two Pokémon. The attack connected with all four and they went shooting off into the sky.

"We'll see you agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain….." we heard them cry.

"Hopefully not!" Baldwin shouted back.

Our three kidnapped Pokémon all ran back to us, and we were so happy to be reconciled with our Pokémon. I turned and saw Tepig watching me with a sad look on its face.

"Tepig, you were awesome, how do you fancy joining me and my friends?" I asked.

Tepig looked really happy and jumped straight into the pokeball I threw at him.

"Alright, well that's enough excitement for one day" said Baldwin, "now let's find that damn Pokémon centre, I'm starving!"

The three of us smiled to each other and collected up our Pokémon and headed on our way.


	5. Chapter 5: The Storm

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Five: The Storm**

"So, you boys managed to fight off these two trainers that tried to steal your Pokémon" asked the police officer standing in front of us.

"That's right. We crashed their caravan and then we had a Pokémon battle, and we managed to defeat them" Toshi replied.

"And they had this Tepig with them" the police officer indicated to the Tepig that was eating some Pokémon food nearby.

"Yeah, we don't know where it came from, but it didn't seem happy to be there. So after we sent Team Plasma packing, Tepig decided to come along with me" I replied.

The police officer nodded as he took notes in his notepad. "That's great. There have been numerous reports of a man and woman tricking trainers into falling asleep and then stealing their Pokémon, so this information will help a lot. No reports of a stolen Tepig though, so I guess you're free to keep him" the officer said.

I looked at Tepig and smiled. I had been worried that if somebody had reported Tepig as stolen, I'd have to give him back, and I wasn't looking forward to that prospect.

Baldwin, Toshi and I managed to arrive at the Pokémon centre near to where we had met Team Plasma. After having some food and resting our Pokémon, we reported what had happened to the police, and an officer had come to take our statement.

"Thanks you three, I better head back to the station and file my report to Officer Jenny" the officer said his goodbyes and left.

Baldwin stretched, "well, now that that's out of the way, it's time we got moving on. Our first gym badges aren't going to win themselves"

"Are you three looking to head off now?" came a voice behind us. We turned and spotted the Pokémon nurse, called Joy standing there. She had curly pink hair, and wore a white nurse's outfit. Her loyal Audino was standing just behind her. "If I was you, I'd stay a little longer, there is meant to be a storm heading this way" Joy said.

We turned to look outside and could see nothing but bright blue skies.

"Pah! Doesn't look like it is going to rain to me" said Baldwin, "now I'm headed off to Nacrene City, and if you two want to join me then come along. If not, I'll see you guys later". Baldwin picked up his rucksack and made his way to the door. Toshi and I said goodbye to Nurse Joy and rushed to join him.

We continued on our way towards Nacrene City having a laugh. After the ordeal of nearly having some of our Pokémon stolen from us by Team Plasma, it was a good feeling to be out in the sunshine on the way to our first gym battle.

"I really need to catch some more Pokémon" exclaimed Baldwin, "you now have three Akio, while I still only have two".

"It's not the number of Pokémon that matter" Toshi said, "It's how you train the ones that you have that counts".

"Listen to the wise Pokémon master over there" Baldwin retorted, "I want to have the strongest Pokémon out there so I can build an unstoppable team that is going to help me win the Unova League".

"Dream on" I replied, "If anyone is going to win the Unova League, it's going to me!"

"Oh yeah?" said Baldwin and he grabbed me in a headlock and we began to wrestle, laughing at each other while Toshi looked on.

"Err, guys? I think you need to take a look at this" said Toshi.

Baldwin and I stopped wrestling and looked at Toshi. He was pointing towards the sky. We looked up and saw that the sky, which moments ago had been clear and sunny with not a cloud in the sky was now dark and stormy, with huge grey clouds.

"Maybe we should have listened to Nurse Joy…" Toshi said.

Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder and the clouds seemed to open up and rain began to pour down. Within seconds all three of us were soaked to the skin. We collected up our rucksacks and started to run.

"We need to find somewhere to shelter from this rain" shouted Toshi, "maybe we should head back to the Pokémon centre?"

"I would if I could" I replied, "but I can't tell which direction we came from in this torrential downpour!"

Every direction we turned looked exactly the same, and with the sky darkening, it was getting more difficult to tell which way we should be going.

"Let's just find somewhere where we can shelter from this, until we find out which direction we need to go in" shouted Baldwin over the noise from the pouring rain.

We headed off in a direction, trying to find somewhere to shelter. Despite being near woodland, the trees weren't good enough shelter as the rain just poured straight through. Then we heard another crack of thunder, and the sky light up.

"It's starting to lightning as well as thunder, we _really_ need to find shelter!" exclaimed Toshi.

I saw a cliff up ahead, and began to panic. Even if we were heading to a dead end, we would have to turn around, and I knew we hadn't seen any other cover. Suddenly I noticed an opening in the cliff face.

"Look over there" I pointed, "there's a cave". We quickly set off to the cave, with me in leading the way.

Thankfully we finally got to the cave and could shelter from the storm. The rain seemed to be coming down even harder, if that was possible. Where we had been messing about had been a dry walkway, was now a muddy mess, with water pouring along, almost like a river.

"We need to dry off" I said and reached onto my belt and pulled out one of my pokeballs. "Tepig, come on out!"

Tepig materialised and looked happy to have been released. Although it turned to the rain, and I could tell even it was not impressed by the terrible weather.

"Tepig, we need you to start a fire so we can dry off" I said.

Tepig smiled happily at me. Toshi got out some kindling from his rucksack that we use to start a fire when we camp out at night.

"Oh no" he groaned, "the rain has soaked right through my rucksack. I don't know whether this kindling will light!"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Baldwin exclaimed. He looked like he was about to kick the wall of the cave when a high pitched scream rang out from further inside the cave.

"What was that?" Toshi asked and we all peered into the darkness, as a figure began to emerge.

"OK, if this is a Pokémon, I am so catching this!" said Baldwin as he reached for a pokeball.

I peered towards the figure that was quickly coming towards us. "Erm, I don't think that's a Pokémon…"

I was right. As the figure grew closer, we could tell it was a girl. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a pair of pink shorts. She had a white cotton shirt on and had a satchel hanging off her shoulder.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed as she raced towards us.

We peered behind her and could see that she was running away from something.

"Is she running away from…a Deerling?" asked Toshi.

I could see a small pink deer with a yellow flower on its head bounding behind the girl. It didn't exactly look like a menacing Pokémon.

"Erm, since when was a Deerling a scary Pokémon?" I wondered out loud.

"NOT MY DEERLING, THAT!" she screamed as she turned and pointed at something that was fluttering further behind her.

I strained my eyes and could see what looked like a flying grey ball of fluff. I opened up my Pokedex and scanned the flying fluff ball.

"WOOBAT, THE BAT POKEMON. THE HEART SHAPED MARK LEFT ON A BODY AFTER A WOOBAT HAS BEEN ATTACHED TO IT IS SAID TO BRING GOOD FORTUNE" said my Pokedex.

"Nice" I said, "I wouldn't mind catching a Woobat".

"Well, could you get it away from me PLEASE!" the girl cried.

"OK Tepig, let's catch us a Woobat, use Ember" I ordered and Tepig jumped into action, firing burning embers from its snout.

The flames impacted with the Woobat, and it looked annoyed. It flapped its wings to snuff out the flames and turned its attention to Tepig. Its small bat wings began to glow and it shot beams of energy from both wings.

"It's using Air Cutter" cried Toshi.

"Tepig, dodge it" I shouted but Tepig wasn't quite quick enough as it managed to dodge one Air Cutter, but the other connected sending it flying in the air.

The Woobat then glowed pink and shot out a form of energy in the shape of a heart.

"That's Heart Stamp" said Toshi, as the heart shaped energy hit Tepig square in the chest.

Tepig cried out in pain. I was not doing well here. Thinking what I needed to do to try and get the upper hand here, I gazed around the cave and saw that there were a number of rocks sticking up from the ground. I realised that Tepig could use the rocks as cover, allowing it to get close enough to Woobat to use Ember at close range, but also dodging Woobat's more powerful attacks.

"OK, Tepig, run to that rock over there" I shouted and Tepig followed my hand, running to a rock nearby on its left. Woobat's wings glowed and it produced another Air Cutter attack. However, since Tepig was hiding behind the rock, the attack instead impacted with the rock, shattering it into many pieces.

A cloud of dust erupted, and I shouted "NOW TEPIG!" Tepig seemed to understand my command as it jumped up from the rubble and fired an Ember attack at the unsuspecting Woobat, which was caught off-guard. The flames caught onto the Woobat's fur and it flew around in circles, trying to snuff out the flames.

This was my chance. I reached into my rucksack and pulled out an empty pokeball. I threw it at Woobat, and the pokeball connected, opened and transported Woobat into the ball. The ball landed on the ground of the cave, shook a couple of times and then I heard a BEEP, meaning I had just caught a Woobat!

"Excellent!" I shouted as I ran to pick up the latest member of my team. Tepig also came over looking like a Purrloin who had got the cream and I congratulated it on an excellent battle. Toshi and Baldwin also congratulated me on catching Woobat.

I turned to the girl who was standing there shaking alongside her Deerling.

"Hi, my name is Akio, and these are my two friends, Baldwin and Toshi" I said.

"Hey, my name is Freya. I can't thank you enough for saving me there. I thought that Woobat was going to have me for sure!" she replied.

"If you have a Deerling, why didn't you just battle it?" Baldwin asked, as tactful as ever.

Freya blushed a deep red and stammered "W-w-well, I'm not exactly the best Pokémon trainer. In fact, I actually intend on becoming a Pokémon co-ordinator and enter Pokémon Contests, but my father is a gy…great trainer and he believes I should become one too" she said.

"Ah, that sounds cool. But what were you doing in a cave like this all on your own?" I asked.

"I was travelling with my brother, Blaise, when the rain came down and we got separated. I think he probably just wanted to get rid of me. He wants to follow in my father's footsteps and be a fantastic trainer, but I'm always slowing him down as I really just want to find all the cute Pokémon I can find" she replied.

"Hmmm, your family don't sound very supportive. Surely if you want to be a Pokémon co-ordinator, they should support you in that" I replied. "My mother was always supportive of me when I decided to become a Pokémon trainer".

She sighed, "You don't know my family like I do. So, where are you guys heading to anyway?" she asked looking at the three of us.

"We are heading to Nacrene City for our first gym battle" said Baldwin, getting animated at the mention of the gym battle.

"Really?!" Freya said excitedly, "Blaise and I were heading there too, so no doubt that's where he is. Do you mind if I tag along with you guys until we get there? As you can probably tell, I'm not sure how good I'll be travelling on my own" she said sheepishly.

"Of course you can" I replied, "the more the merrier".

Freya smiled at me, and summoned her Deerling back into its pokeball. I did the same with Tepig and we looked outside of the cave. It looked like the rain had finally stopped.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think we better push on to Nacrene City, just in case that storm starts up again" Toshi said.

We all agreed and the four of us headed off towards Nacrene City.

**So Freya has now joined the team, and the gang are slowly getting closer to Nacrene City! Hope you are all enjoying the story and welcome any comments.**


	6. Chapter 6: Welcome To The Battle School

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Six: Welcome To The Battle School**

My feet were aching when I finally saw the sign welcoming us to Nacrene City. It felt like we had been walking non-stop for days as Baldwin was so keen to get to Nacrene City so both of us could challenge the gym leader there for our first badge, and finally we had arrived!

Baldwin, Toshi, Freya and I stopped at the welcome sign and looked at the view ahead of us.

"There it is guys, Nacrene City, we finally made it" shouted Baldwin. He looked so excited he could burst. "Let's make our way to the gym right away so Akio and I can win our badges".

"Hold on a minute" said Freya, "we're all exhausted, Toshi can barely stay standing up. Why don't we go and rest at the Pokémon centre first, and then head to the gym after that?"

Normally, if anybody had said something like that to him, Baldwin would have refused to listen and headed off on his own. But for some, since joining our group, he really seemed to listen to Freya. I think he had a crush.

The four of us headed off to the Pokémon centre, where Toshi quickly collapsed on one of the waiting room sofas.

"Boy, you guys look knackered" came a voice and we turned to see a boy, probably about the same age as me standing there in a blue blazer, with a white shirt and a black and blue striped tie. He was also wearing black shoes and a navy blue shorts. "I guess you guys wouldn't want to come and try out the Nacrene City Battle School?"

"What's a Battle School?" I asked.

"The Battle School is run by the Nacrene City gym leader Lenora, who believes that Pokémon education is vital for anyone who aspires to be a Pokémon trainer. I'm a student there, and we're currently running an open day to invite any trainers in the area to come along, see what it's like and get involved in some battling" the schoolboy said.

"Pokémon battling? That sounds right up my street" said Baldwin, "I'm in!"

"I'd be up for it too, but our friend here is so tired, I feel bad for leaving him" I said turning to Toshi, who was suddenly sitting up wide awake.

"Are you kidding? A Battle School sounds like the perfect place to be for a Pokémon researcher. It'll be interesting to chat to lots of different types of trainers to get their experiences of Pokémon battling, plus it might help me to brush up on my skills too" replied Toshi.

"Well, that's settled then, we'll come to your Battle School" Baldwin said.

"Awesome! My name is Tommy, so if you'd all follow me" said the schoolboy and he lead us out of the Pokémon centre. We turned left and headed up one of the main streets. After our recent experience with Team Plasma, I was a bit wary of being led to an unknown location by a stranger, but my wariness soon disappeared when Tommy stopped in front of a grand mansion, sitting beside some close gates.

Tommy pressed a buzzer on an intercom in the wall next to the gates, and the next moment, the gate swung open. Tommy led us into the grounds of the school, which at the front was a large courtyard.

"The battling is going to be taking place in the grounds around the back" Tommy said and he led us down the side of the grand building, and as we turned a corner I saw that there were probably about 30 people here, it was going to be a great experience of battling.

Tommy turned to us and said "If you wish to sign up over there with my teacher, he'll assign you to another trainer and away you go. Good luck" he smiled, pointed to a fat man sitting at a table and walked away.

We headed over to the man Tommy had indicated and he looked up at us and smiled. He had a giant grey walrus moustache that covered most of his lower face, and had no hair on the top of his head. He had so many laughter lines around his eyes; you could tell straight away that he was a jolly fellow.

"Hello there, my name is Mr Turner. Are you four wishing to participate in the Pokémon battling we are holding today?" the man asked.

Freya tried to back out of battling as she didn't feel she was a very good battler, but I managed to persuade her to take part as the only way she was going to get any better was to do more battling.

We were each assigned a group to battle with. There were six separate groups battling each other all over the playing fields. Each group had four trainers in them with two trainers facing off each against each other. Whoever won their battle then faced the winning trainer from the other battle in their group to determine the winner of the group.

"There are no further battles after that group battle. We are an education establishment so while we welcome battling, we don't have this competition to get too competitive" said the teacher. Baldwin looked slightly disappointed at this.

Toshi and Baldwin were both assigned to Group 3, while I was assigned to Group 1 and Freya was put in Group 2. That meant Toshi and Baldwin could end up facing each other. I wasn't sure which out of either of them would in as they were both tough trainers, so I felt sorry for anyone else in their group.

Group 3 was being held at the far end of the school's fields so Toshi and Baldwin headed to their group. Freya and I were much nearer so we hung around together while we got assigned to another battler. I was due to be the second battle in my group, while Freya was the first so I decided to watch her match in the hope that I could give her a bit of encouragement.

Freya was up against another girl, who had busy brown hair and looked quite shy. I hoped this meant she wasn't a very good trainer and it worked in Freya's advantage. Freya chose her Deerling and summoned it to the field.

The shy girl brought out her pokeball and threw it. It opened and out of the white light formed a large brown rat with large whiskers.

"Raticate, use Bite" shouted the shy girl, who no longer seemed shy. It was like she came alive on the battlefield.

Her Raticate raced towards Deerling, opened its jaws and clamped them around one of Deerling's legs. Freya wasn't quick enough to issue a command and Deerling was clearly struggling to remove Raticate's teeth from its leg.

"Deerling, use Double Kick" Freya shouted, and Deerling kicked its hind legs out, but it wasn't enough to shake off Raticate, which had attached itself to Deerling's front left leg. Deerling was looking more and more panicked as the Raticate continued to hold on.

"Deerling, use Grass Knot" ordered Freya. Deerling's body became covered in green energy and roots from the ground suddenly appeared around it, and since Raticate was right next to Deerling, the attack connected with it, and Deerling broke free from its grip as Raticate was forced to let go.

Deerling looked relieved as Raticate loosened its grip, but it was just a moment as the shy girl ordered another attacks "Raticate, use Hyper Fang!"

Raticate again pounced at Deerling with its open mouth, and its front two incisors glowed brightly as they clamped down on Deerling's body. Deerling cried in pain and slumped to the ground.

"Deerling is unable to battle, Raticate is the winner!" shouted the commentator, and like that Freya was out.

I went over to congratulate Freya on her battle. "You did great, that Raticate seemed really strong" I said.

Freya shrugged her shoulders. "I tried my best. Unfortunately Deerling isn't exactly used to many Pokémon battles so it panics easily. But I still had fun" she said smiling.

It was time for the battle in my group, so I headed over to where the match was being set up. Across the battlefield I could see my opponent, who was wearing a similar outfit to what Tommy had been wearing. He had short brown hair and had large glasses which he had to keep pushing up as they fell off his nose.

"This will be a one on one battle" announced the commentator.

I lifted up one of my pokeballs and threw it into the air, "Come on out, Oshawott". The ball opened and my small blue Pokémon appeared on the battlefield ready for action.

The schoolboy looked nervously at Oshawott and threw his pokeball and a small purple rat Pokémon appeared. I smiled. Rattata was the pre-evolved form of Raticate, which had faced off against Freya's Deerling so I knew this would be an easy battle.

"Rattata, use Quick Attack!" shouted the schoolboy and his Rattata ran off in a blur of purple straight towards Oshawott.

"Oshawott, dodge it!" I shouted, but Rattata was too quick and the attack connected with Oshawott who was sent flying back in pain. I had obviously underestimated the speed of this boy's Rattata but there was no way I was going to lose.

"Oshawott, get up and use Water Gun!" I shouted. Oshawott picked itself up, brushed itself off and fired a jet stream of water straight at Rattata.

"Dodge it Rattata!" shouted the schoolboy and his Rattata easily avoided Oshawott's attack. The Rattata was clearly a speedy Pokémon, and I decided I needed to work out a plan of action to stop it in its tracks.

"OK Rattata, use Focus Energy" ordered the schoolboy and the Rattata closed its eyes and began to glow. I knew Focus Energy increased Rattata's chance of getting a critical hit with its attacks, so I knew now was the time to strike.

"Oshawott, use Water Sport, and spray it all around the battlefield!" I shouted. Oshawott gave me a look, nodded and began to spray water all over the place. The schoolboy gave me a funny look and then smiled.

"You do know my Rattata is over here right?" he smirked. "OK Rattata, let's use another Quick Attack and end this". Rattata opened its eyes and began another attack.

However, my plan worked. Rattata couldn't get a grip as the battlefield had become a muddy soggy field thanks to Oshawott. Since the Rattata couldn't get a grip on the ground, its Quick Attack had it sliding all over the place.

The schoolboy looked in horror and it was my turn for a smirk. "OK Oshawott, now it's time to use Water Gun on the Rattata".

Oshawott had a devilish look in its eye and sprayed its Water Gun right at Rattata, and due to the muddy ground, it couldn't dodge out of the way, and the Water Gun hit it square on and the Rattata was sent flying.

Rattata was struggling to get back on its feet due to the mud, so I ordered Oshawott to use one last Water Gun. The stream of water again hit Rattata square in the chest and the rat Pokémon slumped to the ground.

"Rattata is unable to battle. Oshawott is the winner!" congratulated the commentator.

I recalled Oshawott and went over to the schoolboy. "That was a great battle, your Rattata is a pretty strong Pokémon" I said and stuck out my hand.

"Thanks, great idea with the Water Sport. You re a great trainer" said the schoolboy and he shook my hand.

Lots of spectators came over to congratulate as Freya made her way over.

"That was great! Ingenious idea to use Water Sport to make the ground all soggy, I never would have thought of that" remarked Freya.

"Thanks, I wonder how Toshi and Baldwin are getting on" I pondered.

"Oh, I took a little walk down there when it became clear you were going to win that battle. They both won their first battles so are going to face each other in the group decider" Freya replied.

I would have loved to be able to watch that battle, but the commentator was calling me over as it was time for my group decider battle.

I headed over to my spot and looked across the battlefield. My opponent looked familiar, until I realised I was up against Tommy, the schoolboy who had invited us to the Battle School.

He looked over at me and smiled. "I was hoping we would face off against each other" he shouted.

"this will be a one on one Pokémon battle. Begin!" shouted the commentator.

Tommy brought out a pokeball and threw it into the air. The ball opened and a small grey bird Pokémon appeared.

"PIDOVE, THE TINY PIGEON POKEMON. THIS VERY FORGETFUL POKEMON WILL WAIT FOR A NEW ORDER FROM ITS TRAINER EVEN THOUGHT IT ALREADY HAS ONE" my Pokedex told me.

I smiled. Due to the state I had left the battlefield, it would be difficult to use a Pokémon that stayed on the ground as it would end up sliding about the place. I reached into my rucksack and threw my pokeball, and out appeared my recently caught Woobat.

"OK Woobat, it's time to see what you can do!" I said. "Woobat!" the flying ball of fluff replied.

"Pidove, use Quick Attack" shouted Tommy and his Pidove began darting through the air and collided with Woobat.

Woobat shook the attack off. Since Pidove and Woobat were both flying types, I knew none of Woobat's flying moves would have much effect on Tommy's Pidove. "Woobat, use Heart Stamp!" I shouted.

Woobat shone a pink colour then fired energy in the form of a heart straight at Pidove. The attack connected and Pidove grimaced in pain. However, Tommy just looked more determined.

"Pidove, use Hidden Power!" ordered Tommy. Now this was not what I had been expecting as Hidden Power's effects differ depending on the Pokémon using the attack. Pidove closed its eyes and summoned three green balls of energy in front of it, which it then fired towards Woobat.

"Woobat dodge it!" I shouted and Woobat swiftly dodged two of the three energy balls, but the third hit it and Woobat was sent spiralling.

"Woobat, use Confusion!" I shouted. Woobat opened its mouth and let out a burst of energy along with a high pitch squeal. Pidove tried to block out the noise but it failed and by the look in its eyes I could tell it was now confused.

Tommy looked nervous now and I knew I had him on the ropes. "Pidove, use Quick Attack!" he shouted, but due to Pidove's confusion, it kept flying in circles.

"Woobat, let's finish this. Use Heart Stamp again!" Woobat once again fired its burst of energy in a heart shape and since Pidove wasn't aware of what was going on, the attack connected square on and Pidove fell from the sky onto the muddy ground below.

"Pidove is unable to battle. Woobat is the winner!" shouted the commentator.

"Excellent! Woobat return!"" I shouted and recalled a very happy Woobat to its pokeball. I went over to Tommy and again stuck out my hand. "That was an excellent battle Tommy. I can tell you are going to become a great trainer" I said.

"Thanks" replied Tommy, and shook my hand. "I was really impressed by your Woobat. I hope you do well against Lenora, she's a tough gym leader"

"Oh, don't worry, I plan to win" I said with a wink.

Freya came over and I noticed she had Toshi and Baldwin with her.

"Excellent battle mate" said Baldwin and shook my hand. "Confusion was a great move, and Freya was telling us about your earlier battle with Oshawott. Wish I could have seen that!"

"Thanks mate" I replied, "so, how did your battle go?"

Toshi looked sheepish, "Baldwin easily won the battle, but it was good research experience for me" he said.

"At least you can say you were beaten by the future Pokémon League Champion" Baldwin said. With not having lost a single battle yet, I could tell he was becoming rather big-headed. "Now, let's head over to the Nacrene City gym and win ourselves a Basic Badge!"

We then heard a loud rumble. Freya looked to the sky, "Was that thunder?" she asked.

"No, that was my stomach" Said Baldwin rather sheepishly.

"Maybe we should go get some good first?" I replied laughing. The four of us agreed and we said goodbye to Tommy and headed back to the Pokémon centre to prepare ourselves for our first gym battle.

**So, in the next chapter, Akio and Baldwin will finally have their first gym battle. Check out the next chapter to see if they can win their first gym badge!**


	7. Chapter 7: It's Basically A Gym Battle!

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Seven: It's Basically A Gym Battle!**

"There it is guys, the Nacrene City Gym" Toshi said as the four of us stood outside a large brick building. It certainly didn't look how I expected it to. It was a large brick building with huge windows, and there was a sign hanging over the door that said "Museum". I thought Toshi had brought us to the wrong place first of all.

"OK, let's go and win ourselves a badge!" said Baldwin and he led our group inside.

As we walked in, I glanced around, and again was surprised by what I saw. Hanging from the ceiling in front us was the skeleton of a giant Pokémon. I thought it resembled a Dragon-type Pokémon, but I couldn't tell exactly which one. Coming off the main atrium of the museum were lots of corridors, which by looking at the main information board led off into different exhibits. All around the walls of the main atrium were lots and lots of books.

"As well as a Pokémon gym, the Nacrene City gym also serves as a Pokémon museum. I've been here many times to carry out some of my research" remarked Toshi.

"Welcome to the Nacrene City museum" said a voice and I turned to see a large black woman with green hair and wearing a large pink apron walk towards us.

"Hi Lenora" smiled Toshi.

"Toshihiro! Great to see you again. Are you here to carry out some more research?" smiled Lenora back.

"Oh no, not this time. These are my friends Akio and Baldwin; they both wish to battle you to win the Basic badge. And this is my other friend Freya" Toshi introduced us.

We all smiled and waved at Lenora who returned the compliment.

"It's very nice to meet you all, and I'd be happy to accept both of your challenges. However, due to Unova League rules, if you are both wishing to challenge me, one of you will have to wait here as I can't allow you into the arena if you haven't battled as you'll learn my battle style, and give you an unfair advantage" Lenora said.

"That's fine, I don't mind waiting" I said. I knew Baldwin was really keen to get his first gym battle out of the way, so I knew the thought of him having to wait even longer would eat him up.

"Very well" smiled Lenora, "if you could wait in the museum, I will come and collect you when it is your turn to battle. Now Baldwin, if you would like to follow me, and Toshi, if you and your lady friend are to be spectators, you can join us and watch"

"Good luck mate" Baldwin said to me and shook my hand.

"Good luck to you too" I replied.

Toshi also wished me luck, while Freya gave me a quick hug, and the three of them followed Lenora down the rear corridor of the room.

Left to my own devices, I thought I would spend some time looking at the exhibits as I thought it would help take my mind off my upcoming battle. I looked at the different Pokémon skeletons that were held in glass cases throughout the main atrium and also flicked through a couple of Pokémon books that were sitting on the shelves throughout the room. Many of them were about raising Pokémon, or the different effects different berries had on Pokémon. One was even a biography book about a previous great Pokémon trainer called Ask Ketchum from the Kanto region. I had just settled down to start reading about his travels, when I heard footsteps echoing up the corridor.

I turned and saw Lenora walking towards me. "If you are ready, would you like to follow me so we can begin our battle?" Lenora said with her smile still on her face.

I placed the book back on the shelf and followed her down the rear corridor. I tried to tell by the look on her face whether Baldwin had beaten or not but I couldn't tell. As we walked down the corridor, I glanced at the walls and saw paintings of many different Pokémon.

Lenora must have seen me looking as she remarked "We hold a Pokémon gallery every summer where Pokémon artists can come and show off their work, it's very popular".

I just nodded and we finally reached a set of large oak doors. As we approached, the doors swung open and we found ourselves standing in front a Pokémon battlefield. I glanced around the room and could see Toshi and Freya sitting on some seats nearby. Freya waved at me, and I waved back. I couldn't tell from them whether Baldwin had won or not, but having a look around I couldn't see him anywhere.

Leonora and I each took our places on opposite sides of the battlefield. "This will be a two on two battle. Whoever has their two Pokémon unable to battle first loses. Are you ready Akio?" Lenora shouted from the other of the field.

"You bet!" I cried.

"Then let's begin!" said Lenora and she threw a pokeball into the air. The ball opened and from the white light formed a large brown dog with a blue coat and white whiskers.

"Herdier!" it said.

"HERDIER, THE LOYAL DOG POKEMON. IT LOYALLY FOLLOWS ITS TRAINER'S ORDERS AND HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO HELP TRAINERS RAISE OTHER POKEMON" said my Pokedex.

"Ok, Oshawott, let's go" I said and threw my pokeball into the air. My ever dependable Oshawott appeared ready for battle.

"Herdier, use Roar!" commanded Lenora. Herdier opened its mouth and let out a huge roar. Oshawott covered its ears, but soon disappeared back into its pokeball. Then one of my other pokeballs opened of its own accord and my Lillipup was standing there in place of Oshawott.

"What the-?!" I exclaimed.

"Let me explain. Roar is a move which sends your Pokémon on the field back into its pokeball, and randomly selects another of your Pokémon to take its place. Since this is a two on two battle, you now have to battle with Lillipup and Oshawott" replied Lenora.

I couldn't believe it. I had a strategy worked out in my head to beat Lenora, but with her Herdier using Roar, it had totally ruined my plans, and now I had to use my Lillipup instead.

I quickly recovered as I didn't want Lenora to see that I was rattled as no doubt that was her intention.

"Lillipup, use Tackle!" I ordered and my Lillipup went charging towards Herdier. The attack connected but Herdier barely looked phased by Lillipup's attack.

"Herdier, use Work Up!" ordered Lenora and Herdier began to glow. I knew Work Up raised a Pokémon's attack power so knew I had to act fast, otherwise Herdier would be even stronger than what it was now.

"Lillipup, use Bite!" I shouted. Lillipup charged forward, and opened its mouth and its sharp teeth bit Herdier. Herdier grimaced in pain, so I knew the attack had done some damage. Lillipup also looked happy with itself.

Herdier finished glowing and Lenora smiled. "Now, it's time to use Take Down!" she cried and Herdier braced itself before charging straight at Lillipup.

"Lillipup, dodge it!" I shouted and Lillipup went to jump out of the way, but it just wasn't quick enough and the attack connected. Lillipup went flying, and even Herdier grimaced in pain as the recoil from Take Down also inflicted pain on itself too.

"Lillipup, no!" I cried. Lillipup was struggling to its feet; I could tell it still wanted to continue on by the determined look in its eyes. It suddenly raised its head, let out a howl and began to glow in a bright white light.

"No way, is it evolving?" I heard Toshi cry.

The white light became blinding, causing me to shield my eyes with my hand. The light seemed to disappear and I lowered my hand, and where Lillipup had previously stood, now stood a Herdier.

"Lillipup evolved into Herdier!" I exclaimed, and Herdier barked in reply.

"Wow, it's not very often that I see a Pokémon evolve right on my battlefield" said Lenora. "But no matter, I will still defeat you" she said.

Having evolved, Herdier seemed to have a new lease on life. "OK, Herdier, let's use our own Take Down!" I ordered.

My Herdier braced itself and went charging at Lenora's Herdier. The attack connected and Lenora's Herdier was sent flying backwards, before crashing on the ground, but unlike my Herdier, it didn't get back up.

Lenora's Herdier was unable to battle, so she recalled it. "That was a very impressive battle, but I'm not defeated yet" she said. She threw another pokeball and from it, a brown Pokémon with yellow stripes and a large brown tail with some white fluff on the end stood on the battlefield.

"WATCHOG, THE WATCHOUT POKEMON. THEY MAKE THE PATTERNS ON THEIR BODIES SHINE IN ORDER TO THREATEN PREDATORS" responded my Pokedex.

"Watchog, use Retaliate!" shouted Lenora.

Watchog jumped towards my Herdier and slapped it with its large tail with an almighty swipe. Herdier was sent crashing to the ground, and was not getting back up this time.

"Retaliate is a stronger attack if one of my other Pokémon has been knocked out" said Lenora smiling.

I recalled Herdier and congratulated it on an excellent battle. I looked up at Lenora and smiled. "This battle isn't over yet" I said and threw my other pokeball, and re-summoned Oshawott.

Oshawott looked more determined than ever to battle, probably it was annoyed after being sent back to its pokeball by Lenora's Herdier's Roar.

"Oshawott, use Water Gun!" I ordered and Oshawott fired a stream of water at Watchog. The attack connected and Watchog was pushed back by the flow of water.

"Watchog, use Bide!" said Lenora. Watchog closed its eyes and began covered in red energy.

I knew Bide was an attack that depended on how much damage I did to Watchog. I knew that either I had to defeat Watchog in two moves before it could unleash Bide, or use more defensive moves so it wouldn't have any power to retaliate with.

I decided to go with the former idea.

"Oshawott, use another Water Gun!" I ordered, and Oshawott fired another stream of water at Watchog. Since Watchog was building its strength, it was unable to avoid the attack so the Water Gun sent it flying, right back and was almost collided with Lenora. She did not seem happy about that.

Watchog began to glow brighter, obviously having absorbed the damage that the Water Gun had inflicted.

I knew I needed a stronger attack than Water Gun if I was going to defeat watchdog before it unleashed Bide on its next turn. I knew there was an attack that Oshawott could learn; I just hoped mine had learned it.

"OK Oshawott, time to use Razor Shell!" I ordered.

Oshawott looked at me, a little confused. We had never used the attack and I wasn't entirely sure whether it knew it. However, Oshawott nodded its head and reached for the shell that it wore on its stomach. It removed the shell, held in the air and cried "OSHAWOTT!" It then threw the shell at Watchog, and the shell spun faster and faster, it began to glow and swiped right across Watchog. Watchog collapsed in pain and the energy it had surrounding it for Bide disappeared.

"Watchog is unable to battle" Lenora cried, "looks like you are the winner!"

I couldn't believe my luck had paid off. Not only had I just won my first gym badge, but my Oshawott had also learned Razor Shell.

I gave Oshawott a hug and recalled it back into its pokeball. Lenora then approached me and shook my hand. "Congratulations Akio that was a great battle. I believe you were after this" She handed me a long rectangular badge that was purple metal encased in gold.

"This is the Basic Badge, congratulations" Lenora said and smiled at me.

"Alright, I got the Basic Badge!" I cried.

Toshi and Freya came down and congratulated me.

"That was such an excellent battle. I couldn't believe it when your Lillipup evolved" said Toshi.

"Well done Akio, I knew you could do it" smiled Freya.

"Thanks, how did Baldwin do?" I asked.

"Why don't you go and meet him? I told him to wait for you out in the main atrium" Lenora replied.

The four of us left the battlefield and proceeded back down the corridor Lenora had led me down. We came out again at the entrance to the museum and there was Baldwin reading the same biography book about Ash Ketchum that I had picked up earlier.

He turned as we approached and looked at my hand that was still holding the Basic Badge Lenora had given me.

He smiled and opened his hand to show that he had won a Basic Badge too!

"That's excellent mate" I said, and gave him a hug, "I knew you would do it".

"It was a pretty tough battle, luckily I had the type advantage with my Scraggy." Baldwin replied.

"Well, now that you both have won the Basic badge, where do you intend on going next?" Lenora asked.

"We hadn't really thought about it" I said.

"I want to head to Radianta Town. There is meant to be a Pokémon contest there that I want to enter, if you guys are OK with that?" said Freya.

"Well, in that case, I recommend you heard towards Whisponto City. It's near to Radianta Town and my friend Caitlin has just set up a gym there. It's not far from the Whispering Woods or Desert Resort so plenty of chances to catch some Pokémon on the way too!" smiled Lenora.

"OK then, it's settled. We'll head to Radianta Town for Freya's Pokémon contest, then head on to win our second badge against this Caitlin" said Baldwin.

"Trust me, Caitlin won't be a pushover" said Lenora, "she used to be a member of the Elite Four".

"Even better" said Baldwin, "I love a challenge!"

Lenora laughed and waved us goodbye as we left the gym behind.

"Why don't we go and rest our Pokémon at the Pokémon centre before we head on our way?" I asked Baldwin and we agreed to go and head there to heal our Pokémon and collect more supplies for our journey ahead.

We entered the Pokémon centre happy and laughing, when Freya suddenly stopped in shock.

"I don't believe it…Blaise?!" she said.

**So, Akio and Baldwin have won their first badges, and in the next chapter we will meet Freya's brother Blaise (trust me, he's a bad one!). Let me know what you think of the story so far, any suggestions/comments welcome.**


	8. Chapter 8: Akio vs Blaise

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Eight: Akio vs. Blaise**

The four of us, Baldwin, Freya, Toshi and I all entered the Pokémon centre happy and laughing since Baldwin and I both won the Basic badge, when Freya suddenly stopped in shock.

"I don't believe it…Blaise?!" she said.

I turned to follow her gaze and noticed her looking at a tall slender guy with bright blonde hair, just like hers, except while Freya's hair was long and straight, his was a curly mess on the top of his head. They both similar green coloured eyes and I could tell they were brother and sister.

"Blaise, what are you doing here? I've been looking everywhere for you" said Freya, clearly relieved to have found her brother after they got separated during the terrible storm where we first met her.

Blaise snarled back at her "Oh, hi Freya. I'm surprised you managed to make it this far. I know how scared you can be so I thought you might still be quivering in the forest somewhere".

"Hey man, that is not cool" replied Baldwin, "if you knew she couldn't handle herself, why did you abandon her in the forest?"

Blaise turned his eyes to Baldwin and sighed. "Looks like my sister has managed to acquire some buffoons to follow her around. Look 'man', while I care for my sister, she was slowing me down on my quest to become a Pokémon master like our father. She's more concerned in chasing after all the cute Pokémon you can find".

I could see Freya was embarrassed by Blaise's remarks as her face had turned a bright shade of red, and she had her head hung down. I turned to Blaise and said, "Freya is a fantastic trainer, and we feel honoured that we have been travelling with her for the past few days. If you can't see that, then that is your loss mate". I was getting so angry; I had balled my hands into fists.

Blaise sniggered at me. "Oh really? Well, feel free to keep travelling with her then. I've done a lot better since I've been on my own anyway, and since she seems to be coping fine, I don't need to feel guilty anymore about abandoning her".

"What would Dad say after the way you've spoken to me?" Freya cried out with tears in her eyes.

"Dad wants us to be the best Pokémon trainers we can be so we can follow in his footsteps. He needs someone to pass the family business onto, and let's face it, it isn't going to be you is it Freya?" Blaise replied.

Blaise went to walk past us, and I grabbed his arm. "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle. If I win, you have to apologise to Freya for all the horrible things you have said to her"

"And if I win?" Blaise asked.

"Don't worry, that won't be an issue" I replied through gritted teeth.

Blaise sighed, "Fine, I accept your challenge. Follow me and we'll set up a battlefield just outside of Nacrene City".

We followed Blaise to a field just outside of the city. Toshi agreed to be the referee for the match.

"This will be a three on three battle. The winner will be the one who still has any Pokémon left standing once all three of the other competitor's Pokémon are unable to battle" Toshi said.

I meant business and had to defend Freya so started off strong, "Tepig, I choose you!" I cried and through the pokeball for my fire pig Pokémon. It appeared ready to fight and I could tell it shared my determination to win.

Blaise sighed and threw his pokeball. It opened and a small red monkey appeared with a serious red quiff on its head. "Let's go Pansear" Blaise said.

I brought up my Pokedex to scan the Pokémon. "PANSEAR, THE HIGH TEMP POKEMON. A VERY INTELLIGENT POKEMON, IT ROASTS BERRIES BEFORE EATING THEM"

I realised that Pansear was another fire type so this meant neither Pokémon had a type advantage, so Tepig's fire attacks would be useless against Blaise's Pokémon.

"OK Pansear, use Yawn" commanded Blaise. Pansear opened its mouth and let out a massive yawn. I saw Tepig's eyes flutter but then nothing happened.

"What kind of move is that?" I replied. "OK Tepig, let's show him what a real battle looks like. Use Tackle!" Tepig charged towards Pansear, but Blaise ordered the monkey Pokémon to dodge the attack and it easily jumped out of the way.

Blaise still had that annoying smirk on his face. "OK, Pansear, let's use Lick" said Blaise. Pansear jumped in front of Tepig, and then licked Tepig's face with its tongue. Tepig looked about as disgusted as I was.

"Tepig, use another Tackle!" I ordered, and due to Pansear's close proximity, the Tackle collided right into Pansear which recoiled in pain.

However, before I could celebrate, Tepig's eyelids began to droop, and then all of a sudden it fell asleep!

"What is going on?!" I cried.

Blaise just laughed. "You obviously don't know about Yawn do you? It's an attack if the opponent doesn't switch out their Pokémon by the end of the next round, and then their Pokémon automatically falls asleep. And since you didn't bother to switch Tepig, the move had the desired effect" he said.

I stood there stunned. How could I have been so ignorant not to realise what Blaise was up to. I realised I didn't have any berries I could use either to wake Tepig up. This battle was starting to look bad.

"Pansear, use Bite and finish this" Blaise said. Pansear opened its mouth and clamped its teeth around the sleeping Tepig, who clearly flinched in pain. Tepig was clearly not waking up anytime soon.

"Tepig is unable to battle. Pansear wins this round" Toshi declared.

I begrudgingly recalled Tepig. I looked across at Blaise who was clearly smug with himself. He had on a fire red t-shirt which seemed to shimmer like flames anytime the wind move his shirt, and he was also wearing a pair of sand coloured chinos. I had to take him down.

"Woobat, I choose you!" I called and summoned my flying Pokémon.

"Woobat, use Confusion!" I ordered. Woobat opened its mouth and produced a high pitched squeal. Pansear covered its ears, but the attack still impacted.

Blaise grimaced, "Pansear, use Lick!" he shouted.

Pansear jumped and stuck out its tongue, but Woobat could easily avoid the attack.

I smiled, "Woobat, use Assurance!" Woobat was covered in a dark purple energy which it shot towards Pansear. The attack connected and Pansear was set spiralling to the ground.

"Pansear is unable to battle. Woobat wins" Toshi declared.

Blaise did not look happy as he recalled his Pansear. He lifted up another pokeball which opened to produce a small orange dog like Pokémon. It had black stripes and a bushy tail, as well as bushy fur on the top of its head.

"GROWLITHE, THE PUPPY POKEMON. EXTREMELY LOYAL, IT WILL BARK AT THOSE WHO APPROACH ITS TRAINER UNEXPECTEDLY" my Pokedex described.

Growlithe growled at Woobat. "Growlithe, use Flame Wheel" shouted Blaise.

Growlithe opened its mouth and a fireball began to form from its mouth. The ball began to spin and get bigger and bigger until it formed a giant wheel of fire. Growlithe then fired the wheel straight at Woobat. I tried to order Woobat to dodge it but I wasn't quick enough and the attack hit Woobat head on.

Woobat fell to the ground as it felt the impact of the attack, and Blaise was waiting. "Now Growlithe, use Bite!"

Growlithe charged forward, opened its mouth and clamped its jaws on Woobat's body. Woobat cried out in pain.

"Woobat, get out of there and try to get back into the air" I shouted. Woobat tried to wiggle free, but it couldn't escape Growlithe's jaws.

"Let's finish this Growlithe, use Fire Fang" Blaise commanded.

Growlithe's teeth suddenly looked like they were on fire and it used the attack. With Woobat still in Growlithe's mouth, it wriggled in pain as the fire burned it.

"Enough!" I cried, "Release Woobat, can't you see how much pain that is causing it?" I pleaded.

Blaise smiled, "Growlithe, and release" he said. Growlithe obliged ad dropped poor Woobat who was in severe pain.

I recalled Woobat and promised I would get it to a Pokémon centre as soon as I could

"So, Woobat has been returned so is unable to battle, so Growlithe wins that round" said Toshi, who was clearly getting wound up by Blaise's actions too.

I chose my final Pokémon, and released my Oshawott. Since Growlithe was a fire type, I knew we had the type advantage.

"OK, Oshawott, let's start like we mean to go on. Use Razor Shell!" I shouted.

Oshawott lifted the shell from its stomach and threw it at Growlithe. The shell spun fast and faster and struck Growlithe across the chest. The Pokémon howled in pain.

"Oshawott, let's finish this with Water Gun" I shouted and Oshawott fired a stream of water at Growlithe. The attack connected and Growlithe was flung back to the ground and didn't get back up.

"Growlithe is unable to battle. Oshawott wins the round. Blaise is down to his last Pokémon, so whoever wins this round wins the battle" said Toshi.

Blaise recalled his Growlithe and threw his final pokeball into the air. It opened and a small round red Pokémon appeared. It had two large eyes, with large yellow eyebrows above them. It also had three yellow spots on its belly.

I grabbed my Pokedex to scan the new Pokémon. "DARUMAKA, THE ZEN CHARM POKEMON. WHEN IT SLEEPS, IT PULLS ITS LIMBS INTO ITS BODY AND ITS INTERNAL FLAME GOES UP TO 1,100oF"

Darumaka was another fire type Pokémon, so again I had the type advantage. I smiled, and knew Oshawott and I had it in the bag.

"Oshawott, use Water Gun" I ordered. Oshawott again fired a stream of water out of its mouth.

"Darumaka, dodge it and use Headbutt" Blaise ordered. The small red Pokémon leapt out of the way of Oshawott's Water Gun then collided with my Pokémon.

"Now Darumaka, use Fire Punch!" Blaise shouted. Darumaka's right hand seemed to burst into flames as it threw a punch at Oshawott, and connected on the side of its face.

Despite being a Water type, the attack still hurt as Oshawott grimaced in pain.

"Let's finish this with Rollout" Blaise ordered, and Darumaka rolled up into a ball and spun into Oshawott, knocking it about. Darumaka then spun around and hit Oshawott again, and again for a third time. Oshawott then bounced the ground with its eyes closed.

"Oshawott is sadly unable to battle, so Blaise wins" Toshi said through gritted teeth.

I recalled Oshawott and congratulated it on a good fight. Blaise also recalled his Darumaka.

"Well, you lost and what did I get if I won?" Blaise said with a hint of smugness.

"You get to clear off before I knock you out!" Baldwin shouted.

Blaise turned to Freya, "Sister, are you really planning to hang around with these losers? I admit I was a bit harsh to you, but come with me and I'll make you a better trainer"

Freya looked at her brother, closed her eyes, then opened them and I saw a fierceness in them I hadn't seen before. "Blaise, there is no way I am going to come with you. These three are my friends and they don't think I need to changes as a trainer. They accept me for whom I am and encourage me to follow my dream to become a Pokémon co-ordinator, which is more than you or Dad ever did. I'm staying with them!" she said.

Blaise stopped smiling, "Fine, please yourself. I'll get all eight badges a lot quicker without you dragging me down anyways. I would say I'll see you all at the Unova League, but I doubt any of you will get very far" he replied, and spun and walked away.

"I'm sorry I didn't beat him Freya" I said, "I really wanted to".

"Don't worry about it" Freya replied, "you did a fantastic job, and it helped me realise what a horrible person he is".

"Maybe we should head back to the Pokémon centre to heal up your Pokémon before we head on our way?" Toshi said.

I agreed and the four of us made our way back to the Pokémon centre. While I was disappointed not to have beaten Blaise, I knew I would meet him again, either at the Unova League or before, and knew I would beat him at the re-match. But to do that, I needed to get eight badges, so I needed to concentrate on my next gym battle.

**So, our gang of four will be heading towards their next gym, and Blaise will no doubt re-appear in the future. Comments and suggestions as always are appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9: Enter The Dragon Master

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Nine: Enter The Dragon Master**

**This chapter is told from the point of view of Baldwin**

Man, who knew the road to becoming a Pokémon master would be such a long and hungry one. Akio, Toshi, Freya and I had been travelling towards our next gym battle at Whisponto City and I was starving. Freya had cooked a damn good breakfast, even better than my own, but it didn't keep me full for long, something my mother was always complaining about.

I was excited for my next gym battle. The first gym leader Lenora had been pretty tough for me, but luckily my Scraggy had come through and managed to win it for me. And luckily, she only used two Pokémon. Despite setting off with Akio over a week ago, he had captured four Pokémon, and I still only had two. Something I knew had to change.

"Ok guys" I said, "I need to bolster my Pokémon team, so I need to find myself some more Pokémon".

"Well, we should be approaching the Whispering Woods soon" remarked Toshi, "it's a dense woodland which is known for having a wide variety of different Pokémon living there".

Toshi had been saying that we were approaching the Whispering Woods for the past day or so now, so I took what he said with a pinch of salt.

"Look man, I hear what you are saying, but I can't wait until we reach some woods, I need some new Pokémon now!" I said. People had always remarked how competitive I was, but I didn't see it as a negative. If I wasn't competitive then I wouldn't be driven to win all of my Pokémon battles, and become the Unova League Champion. And so far, unlike Akio, I hadn't lost any of my battles yet, so I was on a 100% winning streak.

Suddenly out in front of us, jumped out a small green Pokémon, with two small tusks coming out of its mouth, and a fin on the top of its head.

"Awwww, it looks so cute!" said Freya.

Akio had his Pokedex out and it scanned the Pokémon ahead of us. I could always rely on him to do that, I don't think I had scanned a single Pokémon I had come across yet thanks to him.

"AXEW, THE TUSK POKEMON. IT'S LARGE TUSKS HAVE A TENDENCY TO BREAK, BUT EACH TIME THEY GROW BACK, THEY GROW IN HARDIER AND STURDIER" Akio's Pokedex said.

Excellent, Axew was a Dragon type Pokémon, and exactly the type of Pokémon I wanted for my team, especially as I knew it evolved into the very powerful Haxorus.

"Guys, that is my Pokémon" I exclaimed and reached into my rucksack and pulled out one of my pokeballs. I threw it and my Drilbur appeared.

"OK Drilbur, use Metal Claw" I shouted. Drilbur's metal claws shone brightly, and it leapt towards the Axew.

The Axew noticed Drilbur's attack and seemed to panic and ran off in the down a nearby grassy slope.

"Hey, come back here, I want to catch you!" I shouted and raced off after it with my Drilbur in tow.

I heard Akio call after me "Baldwin wait!" but didn't hang around, I needed to catch myself that Axew.

Axew had already reached the bottom of the slope and looked like it was heading into some long grass. It was a small Pokémon and I knew if it ended up in the grass then I had no chance of catching it.

I threw my other pokeball and my Scraggy appeared, right in front of Axew. The Axew came to a screeching halt, and turned away from Scraggy and started to run back towards me. It then seemed to notice I was getting closer and turned to face my Scraggy.

"Scraggy, use Headbutt!" I panted.

Scraggy bent its knees and lowered its head towards Axew. It was about to jump off, when I saw a girl appear from the long grass

"What do you think you are doing?" she shouted.

She had really long purple hair that almost seemed to reach down to her knees. She was wearing a cream coloured blouse with some pink fabric tied around her waist and some white knee length shorts.

The girl's voice put off my Scraggy and its Headbutt ended up going wide off the mark from the Axew.

Upon seeing the girl, the Axew seemed to get very happy and ran towards her. She bent down and picked it up.

I finally reached the girl and had to stop to catch my breath. "I…was…trying…to catch…that Axew" I said, panting heavily.

"Well, you can't" the girl replied.

"Why? Is it your Pokémon?" I asked. You could never tell if a Pokémon belonged to another trainer, and it was against the Pokémon trainer code to even attempt to catch another trainer's Pokémon.

"No, it's not" the girl replied, as the Axew nestled in her arms.

"Well, if it's not yours, why can't I catch it?" I asked. This girl was starting to annoy me.

"My name is Iris, and I am a Pokémon trainer. I specialise in Dragon type Pokémon, and in my village, we tend and raise Dragon type Pokémon, before releasing them into the big wide world. We like to make sure they are prepared for what they may encounter. I am preparing this Axew to be able to release it into the wild" the girl said.

"Pleased to meet you Iris, I'm Baldwin" I said. "I still don't understand, if this Pokémon isn't yours then why can't I catch it? "

"You need to prove to me then you are able to take care of a Dragon type Pokémon. They require a lot of patience and training to be able to raise into strong Pokémon." Iris said.

"I am more than willing to look after it and raise it. These are my two Pokémon Drilbur and Scraggy and you can tell just by looking at them that I raise them well". I motioned to my Pokémon that stood next to me.

Iris studied the two Pokémon carefully, and then turned to face me. "OK, well the only way to prove to me how good of a trainer you are is to have a battle!"

I looked at her dumbfounded, "you really want to battle me?"

"Yup, and if you win, then you will prove me to what an excellent trainer you are, and I will allow you to capture this Axew." she replied.

I still wasn't sure what right she had to tell me what types of Pokémon I could and couldn't capture, but was never one to turn down the opportunity to have a Pokémon battle.

"We will have a one on one battle, so choose wisely" Iris said and winked.

I looked down at both of my Pokémon. "OK Drilbur, you're up, do me proud buddy" I said. Drilbur nodded and leapt in front of me.

"Very well, and I choose…" Iris said as she threw a pokeball into the air. It opened, and out what looked like a larger Axew. It had a green torso, while its legs were brown. Its tusks were much larger than Axew's and were brown and red; it also had a much larger tail. I could tell that this was Fraxure, the evolved form of Axew.

I gulped. Fraxure was an incredibly strong Dragon type Pokémon, and I wasn't sure whether Drilbur was up to the challenge of beating it, but I knew it would do its best.

"Fraxure, use Dragon Rage!" Iris commanded. The Fraxure opened its mouth and a ball of energy appeared. I knew Dragon Rage that while Dragon Rage looked like a powerful move, it could only do a limited amount of damage.

"Drilbur, use Dig!" I shouted. Drilbur leapt into the air, spun and then dived into the ground, creating a hole and disappearing underground. The Fraxure's Dragon Rage attack went off, but since Drilbur was underground, the attack had no effect. Iris looked unimpressed.

"Fraxure, watch out for Drilbur, it could pop out of the ground at any moment" Iris said, and her Fraxure began to look around.

"Now Drilbur" I shouted, and Drilbur burst from the ground behind Fraxure "use Metal Claw" I shouted and Drilbur's metal claws shone and its attack connected with iris' Dragon Pokémon. Fraxure recoiled in pain.

"Now use Slash!" I shouted and Drilbur took a swipe at Fraxure, and again the attack connected. I couldn't believe how well we were doing.

"Fraxure, Dragon Rage!" shouted Iris. Fraxure again charged up its move, and since Drilbur was at such close range, there was no way to dodge the attack, and the energy ball hit Drilbur right in the chest. Drilbur went flying back and landed in a heap on the ground.

I worried that was the end of the battle, but then I saw Drilbur struggle to pull itself. "Come on Drilbur, you can do it!" I shouted, and then Drilbur was suddenly bathed in a bright white light. It seemed to grow taller, and its claws extended and then as the light vanished, I realised it had evolved into Excadrill.

Excadrill's claws were now much longer and looked sharper than Drilbur's had. It had a metal helmet on its head, and with its brown and red dotted fur, it was much larger than Drilbur.

I smiled and my new Pokémon and glanced over at Iris. It seemed that my Pokémon's evolution had put her off-guard as she stood there looking stunned, and I knew this was my chance.

"Excadrill, use Dig!" I shouted and Excadrill spun into the air, dove into the ground, creating a giant hole. Remembering what happened last time, Fraxure began to look behind itself, expecting Excadrill to appear there, but this time Excadrill appeared to the right of Fraxure, again catching the Dragon Pokémon unaware.

"Metal Claw again Excadrill" I shouted, and Excadrill again hit Fraxure with its giant metal claws. Due to the much stronger attack with it having evolved, the attack was clearly much stronger as Fraxure fell to the ground and was struggling to get back up.

"Come on, Fraxure; get up so we can defeat him!" Iris cried.

I knew that I had this battle won. "Excadrill, Slash!" I shouted and Excadrill leapt towards Fraxure, before landing a blow right across its back. Fraxure cried out and then fainted.

Iris stood there dumbfounded. She then seemed to snap into action and recalled her Fraxure.

She smiled at me, "Well, you have certainly proved what a strong trainer you are by not only beating me in a battle, but evolving your Drilbur into Excadrill too. I am more than happy that you would be able to raise Axew, and think you would be a great trainer, if it is willing to be caught by you of course".

Iris turned to the Axew that had been standing watching the battle and spoke to it, "Would you like to join Baldwin's team?"

Axew smiled and jumped up and down.

"I'll take that as a yes" smiled Iris.

I pulled out an empty pokeball and threw it at Axew. The small Pokémon jumped at the ball, which opened and Axew was transported inside.

"Excellent, I caught Axew and my Drilbur evolved!" I exclaimed, "this has been a good day!"

Iris smiled at me. "You have a real knack for training Pokémon, and I hope to see you again sometime. If you are ever near Opelucid City, look out for me and I'd be more happy to challenge you to a rematch and see how well you've been raising Axew"

"I'd like that very much" I replied and we shook hands. Iris then turned and headed back into the long grass.

I recalled Excadrill and made my way back up the grassy slope where I found Akio, Toshi and Freya had made camp and were waiting for me.

"Well?" asked Akio, "did you end up catching that Axew?"

"You bet I did" I replied, "and even better than that, Drilbur evolved!"

"Wow, that's excellent news! Really wish I had been around to see that" exclaimed Toshi.

"Oh, don't worry Toshi, there will be plenty of chances for you to see my Excadrill in action, don't you worry about that" I said. "Now is there food on the go? I need to get my strength back up if I'm going to win my next gym badge."

"Trust you, to always think about your stomach first" said Freya, who lay out some food for me. I sat down and enjoyed the cooked meal and thought about Iris. I couldn't wait to see her again and challenge her to another battle.

'Just you wait Iris, I'll be an even better Dragon Master than you' I thought.

**Thought it was about time Baldwin caught another Pokémon so Axew now joins his team. Comments/suggestions are, as always, welcome, and in the next chapter, some old faces will return…**


	10. Chapter 10: Bugging Out Over Heracross

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Ten: Bugging Out Over Heracross**

"Here we are at the Whispering Woods" Toshi said. The four of us stared out at the vast dense woodland ahead of us. We were on our way to Whisponto City so Baldwin and I could compete for our second gym badge against the gym leader, Caitlin, there but before we could get there, we needed to go through the Whispering Woods.

"I think Wood is probably a bit of understatement" moaned Baldwin, "that place looks huge!"

As far as the eye could see, all we could see were rows and rows of green trees. There didn't even seem to be any form of life in there.

"Why is it called the Whispering Woods?" Freya asked.

"According to legend, many trainers have gone into the wood and spent so long in there that they have ended up hearing voices whispering through the trees, like the place is haunted. Hence the name" Toshi said matter-of-factly.

Freya looked petrified. "And we really have to go in there?!" she asked.

"We do, if you want to enter that Pokémon contest in Radianta Town" Toshi replied.

That seemed to spur Freya on with determination. "OK guys, time to head into these woods. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we will get through the other side!" she said, and marched off into the forest.

Baldwin, Toshi and I looked at each other, sighed, and followed Freya into the darkness. We heard her scream, so we ran to catch up with her.

"What is it?" I asked, looking for something sinister.

She was pointing up at a tree, so we followed her gaze and saw a small green bug Pokémon, with a leaf around its head.

I got out my Pokedex and scanned the Pokémon. "SEWADDLE, THE SEWING POKEMON. SINCE THIS POKEMON MAKES ITS OWN CLOTHES OUT OF LEAVES, IT IS A POPULAR MASCOT WITH FASHION DESIGNERS" my Pokedex registered.

"It's just a Sewaddle" Baldwin said matter-of-factly.

"I don't like Bug Pokémon" Freya said, "They give me the creeps!"

"Is there a Pokémon you aren't afraid of?" Baldwin asked, before getting a glare from Freya. "Erm, I take that back!"

Freya turned away from Baldwin glowering.

"Maybe we should continue on through the forest?" Toshi asked trying to diffuse the situation. I agreed and we continued on through the wood.

It felt like we have been walking for ages, but still did not seem to be anywhere near the edge of the forest. Suddenly Toshi stopped and looked around.

"Did you guys hear that?" he asked.

"No, why? What did you hear?" I asked, also looking around myself.

"I thought I could hear someone through the trees. It was probably just the leaves rustling through the trees. That's the logical explanation" he replied.

"Maybe it's like the legend says, and it's some ghost come to take away our souls" Baldwin said, jokingly, but soon stopped when he got another glare from Freya.

"Looks guys, I'm really not feeling comfortable being in here, so can we hurry it along?" she said.

We started walking again, when I heard something to my left. I turned to look but could see nothing but trees. But I could definitely hear something, it wasn't whispering though, it was more like buzzing.

"Do you guys hear that?" I asked.

As Freya turned, probably to tell me off about talking about ghosts too, a huge blue Pokémon burst through the trees, its wings buzzing.

We ducked for cover as the Pokémon swooped over our heads. I turned to look as it landed on the trunk of a nearby tree.

I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned the huge Pokémon. "HERACROSS, THE SINGLE HORN POKEMON. NO MATTER HOW HEAVY IT'S OPPONENTS, IT FLINGS THEM FAR AWAY WITH ITS PRIZED HORN"

I looked at the Pokémon and could see the giant horn that my Pokedex had described. It rose from the Heracross' nose and then split into two prongs at the top. The Heracross also two large antennae sprouting from the top of its head too.

"Wow, a Heracross!" Baldwin exclaimed, "I have got to catch me one of those" he said as he reached for a pokeball.

"No way, I want a Heracross. They are very interesting creatures, and go well with my other Bug Pokémon" Toshi replied.

I wanted Heracross myself, and thought its dual Bug/Fighting type could really help my team. "You'll have to get behind me guys as I want it too" I said.

The three of us all looked at each other, then at the same time all reached for our Pokeballs and summoned our Pokémon.

"Tepig, come on out!"

"Venipede, I choose you!"

"Let's go Axew!"

My Tepig, Toshi's Venipede and Baldwin's Axew all appeared in front of us. The three of them looked at each other then turned to face us.

"Axew, use Dragon Rage on that Heracross!" Baldwin pointed behind the three Pokémon.

"Venipede, use Poison Sting!" Toshi shouted.

"Tepig, use Ember" I cried.

All three of our Pokémon fired their attacks at the same time, but the Heracross noticed, and took flight, just as all three attacks impacted on the tree it had been sitting on, and splintered the trunk into thousands of pieces. With the trunk destroyed, the canopy of the tree, swayed then began to fall towards us.

"Watch out!" I yelled and all four of us and our Pokémon jumped out of the way, Freya and I to the left, and Toshi and Baldwin to the right.

The canopy fell onto the ground and caused a great deal of dust to rise up. Coughing, I pulled myself up and brushed the dust off me.

"Tepig, are you OK?" I called out, and then I saw Tepig appear from the cloud of dust looking a little shaken, but fine.

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking!" Freya said grumpily as she pulled herself up. She dusted herself off and then turned to me. "You three are ridiculous. You could have seriously hurt us, not to mention with all three of your Pokémon firing on Heracross, you could have seriously hurt him too!"

"I know" I said, "I think we all got caught up in the moment."

"You guys OK?" Toshi said as he and Baldwin appeared on the other side of the tree, with Axew sitting on Baldwin's shoulder. All three of them were covered in dirt.

"We're fine, what about you guys?" I asked.

"We're fine" Toshi replied.

"Right then, where did Heracross go? I need to catch it!" Baldwin said.

"Since we all want to catch Heracross, maybe we should split up? We'll end up destroying the whole forest if we all travel together trying to catch it" I said.

Toshi and Baldwin agreed it was a good idea and set off in different directions.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Freya who did not seem interested to joining out hunt for Heracross.

"I'll just stay here. Once you are done, come back and find me next to the fallen tree OK?" she said.

I agreed then ran off with Tepig in tow; I didn't want Toshi or Baldwin to get too much of a head start from me.

I could hear Baldwin thumping through the forest, and felt quietly confident that he wasn't going to find Heracross first. All the noise he was making was bound to scare off any Pokémon, rather than make them approach him.

As Tepig and I ran on, I could hear movement up ahead. "OK Tepig, get ready, this could be Heracross" I said.

Steam began to pour from Tepig's mouth as it anticipated the battle, when a tall slim man appeared with jet black hair. He looked instantly familiar.

"Seth!" I said stunned. Seth was a member of Team Plasma, who had tried to run off with my Oshawott, as well as being the one who had mistreated Tepig.

Tepig yelped in fear, and hid behind my legs. Seth turned to look at me and sneered.

"Oh, it's you. I don't have time for you right now, I'm trying to catch a Heracross I saw nearby" Seth replied.

"You're after Heracross too?" I said. "You don't have the right to have any Pokémon!"

"Heracross would be the perfect Pokémon to join Team Plasma. It's a strong Pokémon which will mean us getting our hands on a trainers Pokémon will be like taking candy from a baby with Heracross on our side" he answered with a sneer.

I clenched my fists, "OK Tepig, use Ember!" I shouted, and Tepig leapt out from behind my legs and fired flames towards Seth.

"Yamask, Protect!" Seth shouted and his Yamask suddenly appeared out of nowhere and produced a green shield in front of it and Seth, blocking Tepig's attack.

Seth sneered "Yamask, use Night Shade!" he commanded. His Yamask glowed a pink colour and produced waves of energy that it fired at Tepig.

The attack hit Tepig who grimaced in pain.

"Tepig!" I shouted.

"Looks like that Tepig is still as weak as it was when we abandoned it. Can't say I regret doing that" Seth smirked. "Don't get in my way, that Heracross will soon belong to Team Plasma!" and with a flurry he and Yamask disappeared into the trees.

I ran over to Tepig and picked it up in my arms. "You OK buddy?" I asked the small pig Pokémon. It opened its eyes and looked up at me and nodded.

"OK then, let's go find Heracross before Seth and the others do!" I said, and Tepig nodded. We set further into the forest.

"Axew, use Dragon Rage!" I heard Baldwin cry, and saw to my right a flash of blue light. The attack fired into the trees and I heard what sounded like a small explosion. I thought Baldwin might have beaten me to the Heracross, but then I heard him shout "Dammit Axew, he got away again".

I smiled to myself, that meant the Heracross was still around to battle. Tepig and I continued into the forest. The woods were getting darker and darker and it was becoming more difficult to see, so it wasn't until I was almost on top of Toshi that I noticed him.

"Woah, sorry man, I didn't see you there" I said as I stopped myself from running straight into him.

Tosho turned and nodded to me then turned back. I followed his gaze and realised his Venipede was in a battle with Heracross.

Venipede had just fired a barrage of Poison Stings at Heracross, but despite its size, the giant bug type had easily managed to dodge the attack.

"OK Venipede, use Screech" shouted Toshi. Venipede opened its mouth and let out a high-pitched scream. Even I had to close my ears, so the noise made Heracross freeze in its tracks.

"Venipede, now use Poison Tail" Toshi shouted. The two feelers at the back of Venipedes body shone purple as the small bug Pokémon leapt towards Heracross, it turned its back and its feelers headed straight towards the larger Pokémon.

However, at the last moment, Heracross again dodged that attack, and then its horn shone brightly as it charged at Venipede. Due to Venipede's closeness, Toshi's Pokémon was unable to evade the attack and Heracross' attack made a direct hit.

Venipede went crashing to the ground and began to pant heavily. This battle was clearly taking its toll on the Pokémon. However, just then Venipede shone brightly, and its form began to change. From its small long body, its size increased and it took on the shape of a wheel. As the light diminished I could see Venipede had changed. It was now a light purple colour in a wheel shape, with its eye at the centre of this wheel. On each segment of its body, it now had red circles, while it had two large antennae at what I presumed was the front of its body.

"Whirlipede!" it shouted.

"Wow, my Venipede evolved into Whirlipede!" Toshi exclaimed.

I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned the newly evolved Pokémon.

"WHIRLIPEDE, THE CURLIPEDE POKEMON. STORING ENERGY FOR ITS EVOLUTION, IT SITS, BUT WHEN A PREDATOR APPROACHES, IT MOVES TO STAB THEM WITH ITS POISON SPOKES" my Pokedex said.

"Congrats Toshi, that's excellent!" I said.

Toshi turned to accept my congratulations, but it seemed like Heracross wasn't finished with the battle yet. Its horn shone brightly again and it charged straight at Whirlipede. Since Toshi wasn't paying attention, he didn't tell his Pokémon to dodge the move, and the attack directly hit Whirlipede, who went sprawling across the forest floor in pain.

"Whirlipede!" Toshi cried and he ran towards his Pokémon.

Heracross again took flight and flew further into the forest. This Pokémon was certainly proving to be a tough opponent.

I ran over to Toshi. "Is your Whirlipede OK?" I asked.

"He seems OK just knocked out. Look, I'm not going to try and capture that Heracross anymore, since my Venipede has now evolved, I'm happy with that, so if you want that Pokémon, you better get on your way before Baldwin catches it" Toshi said.

"Or Team Plasma" I replied.

Toshi gave me a quizzical look. "I'll explain it later" I replied and set off after Heracross with Tepig.

The further I went into the forest, the darker it got soon. I kept running into the branches of the trees, and was getting cuts all over my arms. I started to consider whether Heracross was worth all this hassle when Tepig gave out a loud snort.

I looked ahead and could make out the Heracross attached to the trunk of a tree up ahead.

"Tepig, use Ember and let's finish this!" I shouted o my Pokémon.

Tepig snorted flames from its nostrils at the large Pokémon, and due to the relative darkness, Heracross didn't see the attack coming and flames licked all over its body. It roared in pain and turned towards us.

I could tell it was mad by the look in its eyes. The casing on its back opened to reveal its wings, and it began to take off. It turned towards us, and then began to charge.

"Tepig, RUN!" I shouted, and Tepig and I turned and began to rush through the forest. I couldn't tell if we were going back the way we came or not but I just kept running. Suddenly it seemed like it was getting brighter up ahead, so I thought we were making our way out of the thicker part of the forest, when suddenly there were no trees in front of me at all, in fact there wasn't any ground.

I cried out as I fell and went sliding down the side of a steep hill. I slid and bounced my way to the bottom, then had Tepig land on top of me.

I groaned in pain as I picked myself up. I looked up and couldn't see Heracross anywhere. I thought I must have shook him off. However, before I could relax, the canopies of threes in front of me began to shake violently.

'Oh no, what now?' I thought to myself as a flock of birds burst from the canopy. The birds had blue bodies with a white fluffy mane around their heads. They had one single large feather sprouting from the top of their heads that was red at the bottom and white at the top. I also noticed their large talons…

"RUFFLET, THE EAGLET POKEMON. IT STANDS UP TO MASSIVE OPPONENTS, NOT OUT OF COURAGE, BUT OUT OF RECKLESSNESS" my Pokedex told me.

I gulped. These Rufflet looked angry and were heading straight for Tepig and me. There looked to be about 10 or 12 of them, and I knew Tepig wouldn't be able to take them all on its own. Tepig seemed to know this as it was shaking, but it still seemed determined to try its best.

I was reaching for my other pokeballs, when a giant shape appeared in front of me. It was Heracross!

The Rufflet all seemed to be using their Peck attack as each of their beaks began to glow brightly. Heracross closed its eyes, and suddenly was covered in red energy. Each of the Rufflet's attacked the Heracross, and I could see it was in pain, but it endured each hit. After the last Rufflet had attack, Heracross opened its eyes, and took flight, and then ended up punching each of the Rufflet, causing the bird Pokémon to cry out in pain.

I realised Heracross had used its Counter attack, meaning that any attack that had been inflicted upon it was doubled back on its opponent. The Rufflet obviously realised they couldn't take this Pokémon and all beat a hasty retreat.

Heracross landed in front of me and was panting heavily. I noticed it had beak marks all over its body, and took pity on it.

"I can't believe you saved me. I'm so grateful, and I'm sorry that I and my friends tried to catch you" I said to Heracross.

Heracross nodded and then signalled to my pokeballs.

"Do you want me to catch you?" I asked, stunned.

Heracross nodded. I couldn't believe it, all that hassle to try and catch it, and it was just letting me do it after defending me from a flock of Rufflet. I took out one of my pokeballs and threw it at Heracross. The ball opened and Heracross was sucked inside. The ball closed, landed on the ground and shook a few times, before locking.

I had done it, I had caught Heracross! I smiled at the pokeball and attached it to my belt. I also recalled Tepig to its pokeball, and began to climb my way back up the steep cliff I had fell down.

As I reached the top, I heard rustling through the trees, when Baldwin, Toshi and Freya appeared, all looking rather panicked.

"Hey man, we wondered where you had got to" Baldwin said, "Are you OK?"

I looked down at myself, and realised all my clothes were dirty, and with all the cuts on my arms, I must have looked a mess. "I'm fine" I said panting, "I caught Heracross!"

The three of them congratulated me on my catch.

"I wouldn't be celebrating just yet, as we'll be taking that Heracross from you!" said a voice.

We turned and saw Seth and Luna standing there, both holding their pokeballs and with evil grins on their faces.

**OK, so that chapter was a lot longer than I thought it would be, so apologies for that. Next chapter the gang face off against Team Plasma again, and more besides. Comments/reviews welcome as always**


	11. Chapter 11: Time For A Triple Battle

**I do not own Pokémon but all the characters in the story are my own. I should say that while the story is set in the Unova region with the Black & White 2 Pokedex, some of the gyms/towns may differ from the games.**

**Chapter Eleven: Time For A Triple Battle**

As I reached the top of the cliff that I had fallen down after being chased by a Heracross, I heard rustling through the trees, when Baldwin, Toshi and Freya appeared, all looking rather panicked.

"Hey man, we wondered where you had got to" Baldwin said, "Are you OK?"

I looked down at myself, and realised all my clothes were dirty, and with all the cuts on my arms, I must have looked a mess. "I'm fine" I said panting, "I caught Heracross!"

The three of them congratulated me on my catch.

"I wouldn't be celebrating just yet, as we'll be taking that Heracross from you!" said a voice.

We turned and saw Seth and Luna standing there, both holding their pokeballs and with evil grins on their faces.

"What do you two want?" Baldwin shouted, clenching his fists. Toshi also didn't look too pleased to see them.

"We want that Heracross, and while we are at it, we'll take the rest of your Pokémon too!" Luna said.

"Do you guys know these two?" Freya asked.

"Yeah, these two are called Seth and Luna and they are members of a group called Team Plasma. We met them before when they tried to steal some of our Pokémon" I said.

"We let you guys go last time, but this time we won't be so easy" said Seth.

"Just try it" replied Baldwin.

"Very well" Luna said, "it's time to try out this new Pokémon I recently caught" she said smiling as she threw her pokeball into the air.

The ball opened and a small Pokémon appeared. It had a blue lower torso and face, while black fur covered the top half of its body. The fur crept up its neck, and even covered its eyes. It had a black horn on the top of its head.

I reached for my Pokedex and scanned this Pokémon. "DEINO, THE IRATE POKEMON. LACKING SIGHT, IT IS UNAWARE OF ITS SURROUNDINGS, SO IT BUMPS INTO THINGS AND EATS ANYTHING THAT MOVES"

"Don't worry guys, I've got this" Baldwin said. He motioned to his Axew who nodded and jumped to take on Luna's new Pokémon.

"Watch out Baldwin, Deino is also a Dragon-type so both it and Axew's attacks will be effective against each other" Toshi said.

Baldwin nodded, "right Axew, let's use Dragon Rage!" he shouted.

Axew opened its mouth and a ball of blue energy fired from it. The energy took on the form of a dragon and charged straight towards Deino.

"Deino, dodge it!" Luna shouted, and Deino leapt out of the way, with Axew's attack missing it, and instead exploding on the ground.

"Deino, retaliate with Dragon Breath!" Luna shouted, and Deino opened its own mouth and fired energy towards Axew.

"Axew, watch out!" Baldwin shouted, and Axew jumped, just in the nick of time as Deino's attack hit the ground where Axew had been standing, and fired up lots of dirt and grass from the ground.

"That thing is powerful!" Freya said.

"Axew can handle it" Baldwin said. "OK, Axew, let's use another Dragon Rage!" he said.

Axew again fired off another energy blast at Deino, who this time wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack. The attack scored a direct hit, and Deino was sent flying back, and ended up crashing into Seth and Luna.

"How dare you!" screeched Luna, "it's time we taught you a lesson!" she cried.

"Oh no, please let me teach you the lesson!" Baldwin said and ordered Axew to fire off another Dragon Rage.

Axew fired off another attack, and this time it landed right in front of the pair of Team Plasma lackeys and exploded. The impact of the attack caused Seth, Luna and Deino to be sent flying back.

"Time to make a retreat" said Seth. "These kids aren't worth wasting our time over, we have much bigger fish to fry" he said.

Luna reluctantly recalled her Deino. "We'll be seeing you kids real soon" she said menacingly and the pair of them took off into the trees.

"That's it, run away!" Baldwin called after them. He turned to his Axew, "great job Axew, you deserve a good rest." He recalled his Pokémon back into its pokeball.

"Speaking of a rest" I said with a yawn, "I think we could all do with a good rest."

Everyone agreed and we set off along the cliff edge. After walking for a while, the ground started to slope, and we noticed that the trees were beginning to thin out. Looking ahead, we could see a beautiful lake that had glistening blue water.

"That looks like the perfect place for us to stop and have lunch" said Toshi.

We all agreed and dumped our bags. Toshi got out some of our foods supplies and started to make some sandwiches for us all.

Baldwin, Freya and I stood at the side of the lake. "It looks beautiful" Freya said, "I bet all of our Pokémon would enjoy it, why don't we call them out?"

"That's a great idea!" I said, and threw all of my pokeballs into the air. "OK guys, come on out and enjoy some relaxation time!" Each of my pokeballs opened and my five Pokémon appeared; Tepig, Oshawott, Herdier, Woobat and my newly caught Heracross. They all took a look at the lake, and gave a big smile.

Baldwin also threw his pokeballs, and his Excadrill, Axew and Scraggy appeared. Freya threw her pokeball and summoned her Deerling, while Toshi released his Dwebble, Joltik and recently evolved Whirlipede.

All of our Pokémon started running around with each other and frolicked in the water. The four of us ate our lunch and watched our Pokémon have fun. It felt good to have a bit of relaxation. It had been nearly two weeks since Baldwin and I had started our Pokémon journey and it had been pretty knackering so far.

As we all relaxed, I noticed my Oshawott and turned and look behind us. I turned to see a boy standing there watching us. He had sandy coloured hair and bright green eyes. He was wearing a white t-shirt with blue stripes along the top and the image of an anchor in the top left corner. He was also wearing blue shorts and some white trainers.

"Are you all Pokémon trainers?" he asked.

We all nodded in reply.

"I was wondering if any of you wanted to have a battle?" he asked.

"I'll battle you" I said. I needed to get a bit more practice in before my next gym battle.

The boy smiled. "Excellent, my name is Mark"

I got up from the ground where I had been lying and walked over to him and shook his hand. "My name is Akio I said."

"I was wondering if we could do something a bit different?" Mark asked. "Would you mind if we had a triple battle?"

"What's a triple battle?" I asked.

"It's where each of the trainers has three Pokémon on the battlefield at once and each Pokémon can attack. It means that the trainer has to keep their eyes open across the whole battlefield to make sure they are keeping track of each of their Pokémon" he said.

"Wow, I've never had a triple battle before" I said, "it sounds pretty cool"

Mark smiled. "Excellent, well choose your three Pokémon!"

Toshi agreed to be the referee for the match. Mark and I stood at opposite ends of the meadow from each other, and I selected Oshawott, Woobat and Heracross. I thought this gave me a good range of Pokémon types to battle Mark with.

Mark threw his three pokeballs into the air, and from each of them appeared three similarly looking Pokémon. One of them I had seen before, Pansear. I had battled one when I faced off against Freya's brother Blaise. The other two Pokémon looked similar to Pansear; except one was blue and the other one was green.

I scanned the two unfamiliar Pokémon with my Pokedex.

"PANSAGE, THE GRASS MONKEY POKEMON. IT IS GOOD AT FINDING BERRIES AND GATHERS THEM FROM ALL OVER." came the Pokedex's information for the green monkey.

"PANPOUR, THE SPRAY POKEMON. THE WATER STORED INSIDE THE TUFT ON ITS HEAD IS FULL OF NUTRIENTS AND IT WATERS PLANTS USING ITS TAIL" came the response from scanning the blue monkey.

"This will be a triple battle. The loser will be the first one to have all three Pokémon knocked out. No substitutions" said Toshi.

I launched straight into my attacks. "Woobat, use Air Cutter and aim it at Pansage!"

Woobat began to beat its wings, causing jets of air to fly from its small wings straight towards the green monkey Pokémon.

"Pansear, use Incinerate!" Mark shouted, "aim it at Woobat's Air Cutter!"

Pansear opened its mouth and fired flames at Woobat's incoming attack. The flames swirled in the gusts created by Woobat, and continued to spin around and around until they created a fire tornado.

Everyone looked in horror as the towering inferno began to spin wildly across the grass, before it started to come back towards me and my Pokémon.

"Oshawott, quick, use Water Gun!" I cried.

Oshawott opened its mouth and fired a stream of water at the tornado. The water quickly evaporated the flames until there was a cloud of smoke rising from the blackened ground.

Suddenly, out from the smoke came Mark's Pansage who opened its mouth and shot a flurry of seeds at Oshawott. The attack impacted and Oshawott was sent spiralling back under the barrage.

"Hey, not fair to use Bullet Seed on Oshawott, I was trying to contain that fire you started!" I shouted over at my opponent.

Mark just smiled, "all's fair in love and Pokémon battling" he replied.

I realised Mark was beginning to get up the upper hand and knew I needed to contain this, so decided I needed to cause a distraction so that I could target one of Mark's Pokémon at a time.

"Heracross, use Horn Attack!" I commanded. Heracross opened the casing on its back to reveal its large wings and lifted off from the ground towards Mark's three Pokémon.

"Pansear, use Incinerate!" Mark shouted and his fire Pokémon opened its mouth to fire another burst of flames.

"Heracross, dodge it" I shouted. Heracross easily manoeuvred out of the way of Pansear's attacks, but as I hoped Mark and Pansear became distracted trying to land an attack on my bug Pokémon. I knew this was my chance.

"Woobat, use Air Cutter on Pansage!" I ordered.

Once again, Woobat fired gusts of wind at Pansage, and since Mark was distracted, he didn't have time to react and the attack connected with Pansage. The green monkey was flown up into the air , and then came crashing back onto the ground.

"Now, use Confusion" I shouted and Woobat opened its mouth and let a high pitched squeal. Pansage covered its ears to try and block out the noise, but I could tell by its unsteady feet that the attack had successfully confused the Pokémon.

Mark was clearly annoyed by being taken off guard. "Pansage, let's get revenge and use another Bullet Seed on Oshawott" he ordered.

Pansage opened its mouth to fire off a barrage of seeds, but due to its confusion, rather than aiming at Oshawott, it aimed it at Panpour. With nobody expecting that, the attack made a direct hit, and since Panpour was a water type and therefore at a disadvantage to Pansage's grass attacks, it was a super effective hit.

I could see I had the advantage. "Heracross, use Horn Attack to finish off Pansage!" Heracross turned itself around in the air, its large horn glowing and the attack connected with Pansage straight in the chest.

Pansage cried out in pain and slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Pansage is unable to battle and so can no longer continue" Toshi shouted.

"Pansear, Incinerate Heracross" Mark shouted, not even giving me the chance to celebrate my victory. The flames licked around Heracross and the poor Bug type was unable to put up much resistance. It cried in pain and then collapsed to the ground.

"Heracross is unable to battle" cried Toshi.

We were now down to just two Pokémon each.

"Oshawott, use Water Gun!" I shouted. Oshawott opened its mouth and fired the stream of water at Pansear. I knew Oshawott had a type advantage so was hoping I could get the obviously dangerous fire monkey out of the battle, then with two of my Pokémon I could take down Panpour quite easily.

"Panpour, leap in front of Pansear to absorb that attack" Mark shouted and his water type jumped in front of Oshawott's attack and was hit by the water gun.

I grimaced, knowing I had been unable to hit Pansear, but knew that the attack had still done some damage to Panpour, even though it might not have been a lot.

Realising I needed to get creative to get rid of Pansear, I suddenly came up with an idea.

"Woobat, use Air Cutter and aim it at Oshawott!" I shouted.

"Hey Akio, you are meant to be attacking his Pokémon, not your own!" Baldwin shouted from the side-lines.

I looked over at my friend and winked. He just needed to trust my judgement.

Woobat did as I commanded and gusts of air were soon billowing around Oshawott.

"OK Oshawott, now jump into Woobat's Air Cutter" I said. Oshawott jumped into the air, and thanks to the gusts from Woobat's attack, began to rise higher and higher into the air. The attack in fact made Oshawott fly right over Panpour's head.

"Now use Water Gun, and aim it at Pansear!" I shouted.

With no Panpour to protect it, and caught by surprise by my rather ingenious move, Mark wasn't quick enough to order his Pansear to avoid the attack. Oshawott's Water Gun made a direct hit and Pansear was soon lying on the ground unconscious.

"Pansear is unable to battle. Mark now only has Panpour remaining" Toshi shouted.

"Panpour, use Scald and aim it at Oshawott" Mark commanded. He clearly wasn't happy with my move to take out his Pansear.

Panpour opened its mouth and fired a stream of water at Oshawott. But unlike Oshawott's Water Gun move, this water was clearly boiling as Oshawott cried out as the water made impact.

However, Mark made an error as with him too busy trying to get revenge on Oshawott, he failed to defend against Woobat.

"Woobat, use Confusion!" I shouted.

Woobat again let out a high pitched squeal. Panpour tried to block out the noise, but it failed. However, I couldn't tell whether it had been confused or not.

Mark clearly couldn't tell either as he ordered Panpour to fire another Scald attack, but this time at Woobat.

Panpour opened its mouth but ended up spraying itself with the boiling water. Woobat's Confusion had clearly worked and had confused Panpour.

Burned from the boiling water, and having early been hit by Pansage's Bullet Seed, Panpour collapsed to the ground.

"Panpour is unable to battle. Akio wins the match!" Toshi shouted.

Baldwin and Freya cheered and clapped as I congratulated all three of my Pokémon who took part in the battle.

I walked over to Mark and shook his hand. "That was a great battle, you were a really strong opponent" I said.

"Thanks, and so were you. That move to make Oshawott fly over Panpour was genius. I'm going to have work on my own battling if I am going to have a chance of beating you the next time we meet" Mark replied.

I smiled, "I look forward to that rematch".

We all said our goodbyes to Mark and he carried on his way further into the Whispering Woods. Meanwhile the four of us collected our things and our Pokémon and headed on our way. Baldwin and I had a gym battle to win, and Freya had to compete in her first Contest.

**So, Akio took part in his first triple battle, and luckily won. And we will be seeing Mark again, so will see whether he has improved. Reviews and comments are always welcome. Next up is Freya's first contest!**


End file.
